


Home is where the Heart is

by Lakritzwolf



Series: Trust and Courage [2]
Category: The Mortal Instruments (Movies), Young Hercules
Genre: Angst, Dark, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance, Time Travel, it has its funny moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-20 22:11:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9518252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lakritzwolf/pseuds/Lakritzwolf
Summary: This story is the continuation of"I'm not scared anymore", and it's a collection of more prompts from the WinterFRE2017.Luke and Iolaus are free, but that doesn't mean their problems are over. Roads have to be taken and decisions to be made, and some of them are going to be tough.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WinterFRE2017 - Prompt 25: “You better hope we can do something about this.”

Hercules, Jason, Iolaus and Luke had the weather on their side as they headed home; the roads were dry and the skies were clear so they made good progress on their journey. 

After a day or two, Iolaus and Luke were able to walk like normal humans again. Jason and Hercules had joked about it upon noticing it shortly after they had left Athens, the way they still walked a bit like storks, but had made dismayed apologies after learning the reason for that. 

They had bought back all of Iolaus’ things they had been able to find back then, which was everything apart from the necklace of charms that had probably been thrown away. And while Iolaus quickly got accustomed to the boots again after being barefoot for so long, the muscles in his back and shoulders had grown so much, due to his labouring at the oar, that he could hardly close his vest anymore. 

Hercules and Jason had another moment of discomfort as they passed a derelict farm on their way. The building had burned down and had been abandoned, and while the gardens were totally overgrown the fruit orchard was still there, and the trees were heavy with apples. 

Iolaus vehemently refused to even touch the fresh and juicy red apple he was offered, and Hercules shook his head in confusion.

“But you love apples!” He held it out to him again.  
“Not anymore,” Iolaus said and turned away.

Jason and Hercules exchanged a look of utter puzzlement. And then they noticed Luke put a hand on Iolaus’ upper arm. Iolaus’ face was dark and closed off, but after a moment, his back relaxed a bit and he leaned his head against Luke’s shoulder.

After exchanging another confused look with Jason, who could only shrug, Hercules bit into the apple and gathered a few more to take along, but he shot Iolaus a few unhappy glances as he did so.

Unfortunately these apples were the only food they had at this point, but Iolaus still refused. 

“You’re not seriously telling me you willingly stay hungry,” Hercules said in half-joking despair.  
Iolaus crossed his arms. “I’m not touching another apple.”  
“But why?”  
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Iolaus said, got up and left the small fire they had made for the night.

Hercules stared at his back and then at Jason who shook his head. Then they both looked at Luke who got up and followed him. The two watched as Luke put an arm around Iolaus, and the latter buried his face into Luke’s shoulder. They exchanged a few words that were spoken too low for Hercules and Jason to hear, and then Luke came back to the fire.

He sat down and stared into the flames. “He doesn’t want to talk about it, but not only because of the memories,” he finally said. “He doesn’t want you to know because he doesn’t want you to see him as broken, or start mollycoddling him, or treat him like someone else... he still wants to be Iolaus to you, the one you know. Even if he knows that he has changed too much to ever pretend that everything is like it was.”

“We will,” Jason said slowly. “He’s our friend. He’s still Iolaus. He’s been through a lot, but he’s still Iolaus.”

Luke nodded and heaved a heavy sigh. “In the end, he asked me to tell you because he really doesn’t want to talk about it, but he said you should know. He doesn’t like the thought, but I think as well that you should know.”

Hercules stared at him with his mouth hanging open. “What happened?” He asked in a low whisper.  
“You know...” Luke was still staring into the flames. “When you’ve been eating nothing but dried fish for months and are always on the verge of starvation you do anything for something to eat.” Then he looked up and met Hercules’ eyes. “Anything.”

Hercules stared at him and blinked, and a single tear ran down his cheek. 

“He wasn’t penetrated, but that’s the only mercy he got,” Luke went on. “What happened is this.” He adjusted his position. “When the galley owner saw him, with his golden hair and blue eyes, he planned to sell him to a brothel keeper in Cairo.”

Jason spat out a mouthful of half chewed apple and looked up, murder in his eyes.

“And he intended to sample the wares,” Luke went on calmly and picked up a small stick. “He offered Iolaus an apple, a whole apple, just for being a... good boy.”  
“I’ll kill him,” Hercules said in a cold, dead whisper.  
“He’s already dead,” Luke replied and twirled the stick between his fingers. “But then Iolaus saw that the merchant was wearing a large bronze brooch. And it had just the right size that he could use the pin to pick the locks of the shackles. And so instead of... so he knelt down to take him in his mouth to get close enough. He got the apple as reward, and he did it again to be able to steal it.”

Luke paused, and both Hercules and Jason were too shocked to speak.

“It was worth it, at least.” Luke threw the pin into the fire. “He got the brooch and was able to set me free. But the taste and smell of apples carries some very unpleasant memories.”

A heavy silence spread, disturbed only by the crackling of the fire. 

Almost simultaneously, Jason threw his half-eaten apple into the fire while Hercules stuffed his back into the bag.

“Not hungry anymore,” he muttered and dragged a hand down his face, then shook his head. “I know he did some... dreadful things to survive back when he was still living on the streets,” he said to Luke. “I just hoped he would never have to do them again.”  
“So did he.” Luke shrugged. “And... I mean, just because he did it before doesn’t mean he can just shrug it off. He says it doesn’t bother him much, and that he’s been over this before and will do so again. He believes it, and I do believe him when he says it... but for now, please act like you don’t know, and he’ll act like he doesn’t know you know, and just do what you always did, talk like you always talked to him. Just don’t offer him any more apples.”

Hercules stared at his friend, and then he got up. He walked towards Iolaus’ side and when the latter looked up, Hercules wordlessly pulled him into a firm embrace. Iolaus tensed, but then he let himself be hugged. 

Then Hercules stepped back again and took Iolaus’ forearms, and when Iolaus returned the gesture Hercules gave him a determined nod. After a moment Iolaus nodded as well and Hercules let go, and then, with a firm slap between Iolaus’ shoulders, steered him back towards the fire.

* * *

No one mentioned apples again, not that night and not the next morning. And while Hercules refrained from the dramatic gesture of throwing the apples away in a overdone show of support, neither he nor Jason made a move to offer Iolaus one, and didn’t look at him either while they ate them. 

The apples were gone by the evening of that day anyway. No one mentioned it, but at one point Jason was unable to hold it in anymore. He looked at Iolaus with a mildly worried frown.

“You haven’t had a bite in two days... you sure you’re not hungry?”  
Iolaus calmly met his eyes. “I am hungry,” he said. “What am I supposed to do about it? Graze?”

Jason stared at Hercules who shrugged. They visibly could hardly believe that Iolaus would, or even could, go without food for two days without a single complaint.

There was nothing for it anyway. None of them had four stomachs so grazing wasn’t an option. They continued on their way and by the evening of the next day they saw a small farm not too far away from the road. 

For the farmers, they were sent by the gods. The farmer had suffered a bad fall while trying to repair the roof and had broken a leg, and while the local herb woman, who didn’t live too far away, had been able to set it, he wasn’t in any shape to do the heavy work. His wife did what she could, but with three children to feed and to take care of, one an infant still at the breast, she couldn’t do everything either. 

And so the four set to work; Hercules chopped wood, Luke crawled onto the roof to nail the missing shingles into place, and Jason mucked the small stable while Iolaus milked the goats. 

The farmers thanked them with tears in their eyes, and they were given bread and goat’s cheese, and olives and grapes from the garden. They slept in the hayloft that night.

The next morning, the farmer’s wife made groats, and insisted they take a loaf of bread with them and a chunk of cheese. They took the bread but refused the cheese and told her to feed that to the children. 

The single loaf of bread was a meagre meal that evening, but they would reach the academy at some point the next day, so there was no reason to complain. 

They sat in silence around the fire for a while until Hercules looked up and cleared his throat.

“Iolaus,” he said hesitantly. “I have to ask you something.”  
Iolaus looked up and lifted his eyebrows.  
“It’s because...” He rubbed a hand across his neck. “I mean it’s not really my... business... but... ah... I thought you... I thought you...” He broke off helplessly and looked at Luke.  
Iolaus looked puzzled. “Can you stop beating around the bush?”  
“I thought you like women,” Hercules blurted out. 

Iolaus blinked a few times, and then he laughed. He looked at Luke and his laugh ebbed off into a chuckle, and then he grinned at his friend. 

“Both.” He looked at Luke. “What about you? Both?”  
Luke nodded. “Both.”

Looking at each other they nodded. “Both,” they said simultaneously while looking back at Hercules. 

Hercules forced a smile onto his face, clearly totally confused now. Neither he nor Jason had said anything about Iolaus and Luke sleeping so close to each other, or the way they occasionally embraced. But Hercules seemed to have reached the end of his tether now regarding his curiosity. 

“So...” he said, “So you are...” His finger pointed back and forth between Luke and Iolaus a few times, his eyebrows up in his hairline.  
“We are?” Iolaus crossed his arms, but the corners of his mouths twitched. Quite obviously he was enjoying dangling his friend from the hook. “Are what?”  
“Are...” Hercules knew he wasn’t getting off that hook anytime soon. “Together?”  
“Well, we’re sitting next to each other and travel to the same destination, so...”  
“Iolaus you know what I mean!” Hercules burst out.

Iolaus looked at him, his face unmoving. Then he snorted and grinned. 

“Are we lovers?” He offered then.  
Hercules nodded with a nervous smile.

Iolaus looked at Luke. Luke looked at Iolaus and his eyes showed the same twinkle that Iolaus’ did. 

“Well, after what happened...” Iolaus’ smile softened as he looked at Luke. “I guess we are.”  
“I guess so,” Luke replied and looked at Hercules. “How much detail do you want?”  
“Nothing!” Hercules replied hastily. “I was just wondering... uhm... because we haven’t seen you kiss or..”  
“Or?” Iolaus crossed his arms.  
“Touch... like... that...” Hercules looked as if he’d rather fight Cerberus in his underwear right now than continue this conversation.

“You don’t know what we do in the shadows,” Iolaus all but purred after casting a quick look over his shoulders at the darkness under the trees.  
“And I don’t want to!!” Hercules’s face had the colour of a ripe tomato. “Just stop that!”  
“You started it.” Iolaus tilted his head with a smug smile.  
“I know!”

Now Iolaus couldn’t keep himself together anymore, he burst guffawed and doubled over with laughter. Luke joined him though he didn’t look as if he was about to suffocate, and Jason grinned at Hercules who grinned rather weakly back.

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Luke said.  
“And satisfaction brought it back,” Iolaus added.  
“Don’t start it again!” Hercules almost yelled.

Iolaus didn’t stop laughing for a while.

* * *

They reached the Academy shortly before noon. As the buildings came into view Iolaus stopped and his face went blank, but his eyes were misting over.

Luke stepped beside him and took his hand, and after a deep breath, Iolaus rolled his shoulders. Hercules slapped his back and he was able to smile again, and then all four of them made their way down the hill towards the compound of buildings. 

The cadets who saw them coming dropped everything and came running to meet them, and they hugged Iolaus and threw their arms around him and slapped his back and Iolaus was clearly overwhelmed by the joy of all those comrades about his return.

Hoof beats coming around the corner announced the arrival of Chairon, and Luke straightened up and cleared his throat to prepare himself for the meeting with the academy’s master. And while he had been told Chairon was a centaur he actually saw one for the first time. 

He managed not to gawk, but it was a near thing.

Chairon was smiling, broadly and happily, at the sight of Iolaus, but when his eyes fell onto Luke his smile vanished. 

No one saw the move, but suddenly a spear was pointing at Luke’s throat. 

Iolaus didn’t hesitate a second with pushing himself between Luke and the sharp spear point and glared up at Chairon. 

“What is this?” Chairon asked.  
“This is Luke, and he is the man who saved me, and freed me, and brought me back home to Greece.”

Stomping down with his left hind leg, Chairon hefted the grip of his spear.

“He is no man,” he almost growled.  
“I know,” Iolaus said and glowered back. “If he was, he wouldn’t have been able to save me.”  
“Then he has my gratitude,” Chairon said but he didn’t lower the spear. “But I will not suffer him inside these walls.”

Hercules stepped beside Iolaus and the two exchanged a helpless look. Both looked at Chairon whose dark face made it clear he meant what he said and wouldn’t budge.

Hercules pursed his lips for a moment and looked at Iolaus. “You better hope we can do something about this.”  
Iolaus looked back at him with an unhappy frown.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WinterFRE2017 - Prompt 3: You don’t belong here

There was a heavy silence hanging over the yard. 

Hercules stared at Iolaus, Iolaus stared at Chairon, and Chairon stared at Luke who calmly met the centaur’s eyes.

And then someone asked hesitantly: “What’s that supposed to mean, he isn’t a man?”

“It means he looks like a human being, but he is no human,” Chairon said darkly. “And while he may be no threat right now, his kind are not to be trusted.”  
“His kind?”  
“Whatever he is,” Chairon went on. “I sense dark magic about him.”

Luke slowly stepped away from Iolaus and kept his eyes on Chairon, ignoring the spear that pointed at his throat. 

“I am a skin changer,” he said. “And while it may be dark magic, I am in no way ally to the forces of evil and darkness, neither chose I to be like this.”

Chairon’s facial expression did not change. 

“Yes, it is a curse. I learned to live with it. And where I come from I am allied with people who are descended of those who were given the blessing of blood by a holy being.”  
“Prove it.”   
“I can’t,” Luke said simply. 

Iolaus stepped forward again and pushed the spear out of the way. “I trust him,” he said. “I’ll vouch for him.”  
“That doesn’t mean anything because it will undo nothing should he lose control...”  
“He won’t!” Iolaus glared at him. “He is in full control of his form!”  
The centaur thrust out his chin. “So you say.”  
“So I know.” 

Chairon looked at Luke and back at Iolaus. “You may trust him, but I don’t.” Then he looked at Luke again. “You don’t belong here.”  
“I know,” Luke said. “But I’m here to...”  
“It is of no consequence to me why you are here. You don’t belong here.”  
Luke licked his lips and gritted his teeth. “Then I’d best be gone.”

Chairon nodded, but as Luke was about to turn around Iolaus took is arm. “Wait,” he said and took a step towards Chairon.

“Don’t you even want to know what he did for me?” He asked Chairon with a sharp edge to his voice. “Is it of no consequence that he didn’t only save my life but my soul and my sanity?”  
Chairon looked at him and lowered his eyebrows, but said nothing for now.

Iolaus gritted his teeth as well, but then he huffed and crossed his arms.

“The men who took me... they drank with me in a tavern, and they drugged me and sold me as a galley slave! I spent the last three months chained to a bench and pulling an oar! They starved us and flogged us and hardly gave us water, and we weren’t allowed to talk and had to piss into a bucket and were chained like animals at night! But his words... he saved me!” 

Tears of fury were about to break free from his eyes and he was almost screaming now. 

“It were his words that kept me hanging on to my sanity when I was about to be broken! It was him and his so called dark magic that saved us all! And you have no idea what I’ve been through to get an item I could use to pick his locks with!” He wiped a hand across his eyes. “And if all that is of no consequence to you than neither am I!”

Chairon had listened to Iolaus’ outbreak with an unmoving face. 

Another voice from one of the cadets around him, quite obviously from someone who didn’t have a lot of common sense, suddenly asked: “What did you do?”

Iolaus spun around, and now he was screaming. “I sucked an unwashed fat merchant’s cock to be able to steal his brooch!!”

The silence that followed made it seem as if anyone around him had been turned to stone, Chairon included. 

“I promised I will go where he goes,” Iolaus continued hoarsely. “I promised I will help him find his way home.” He met Chairon’s eyes. “Don’t think for a second I am trying to blackmail you. But if he doesn’t belong here, then I don’t belong here anymore either.”

“Iolaus, don’t be a fool,” Chairon said slowly. “You belong to the academy.”  
“I belong with Luke,” Iolaus said and turned away to step towards Luke’s side.

“You can’t do this,” Luke said to him in a low voice.  
Iolaus looked at him. “I already did it. My place is with you.”

Luke looked at him, and the determination in Iolaus’ eyes made him swallow and incline his head. “Thank you,” he whispered and took one of his hands. 

The stunned silence around them didn’t change as everyone watched the two bring their foreheads together and remain like this for a long moment. 

Then they parted, looked at each other and nodded. They turned around and left the yard of the academy without looking back.

* * *

Luke and Iolaus left the village after purchasing a few provisions, bread, cheese, dried meat and dried apricots. But shortly after the last houses had vanished out of sight, Luke stopped and looked back.

“You were looking forward to coming home,” he said in a low voice.  
“I was,” Iolaus replied. “But... You know, I lived there, and I had a bed there, but home is more than just a bed. I haven’t had a home since my mother died and I lost my father to alcohol and whores.”

“There’s a saying where I come from,” Luke said softly. “Home is where your heart is.”  
Iolaus took both of his hands. “I know where my heart is, and it’s not the academy.”

Iolaus smiled at him and reached out to touch Luke’s cheek. It was only a small, somewhat wistful smile, but it was a smile. Then Iolaus stood on tiptoe to place a kiss onto Luke’s lips. 

Luke sifted a few strands of golden hair through his fingers, at a loss for words.

“Let’s go.” Iolaus dropped his hand and took a few steps, but then faltered again. “Uhm... where are we going?”

Before Luke could answer, someone behind him called Iolaus’ name. The two turned around and saw two men come running down the hill. 

Iolaus narrowed his eyes, and then a huge grin formed on his face. “Herc?”

Hercules and Jason waved at them and only stopped running when they had caught up with them.

“Herc?” Iolaus had an incredulous smile on his face. “What are you doing here?”  
“Think we’d let you have all the fun alone?”  
“Fun?” Luke stared back and forth between the two while next to him, Jason hooked his thumbs into his belt with a grin. “Fun?”

“Sure! Travelling, adventure!” Hercules grinned at him. “Killing and overcoming creatures out of nightmares...”  
“Though maybe not in that order,” Iolaus interjected helpfully. 

“Well,” Luke shrugged with a crooked grin. “If that is your idea of a good time...”

Hercules slapped Iolaus’ back and made him stumble a step forward. “Let’s go!” Then he looked at Luke. “Where are we going again?”  
“To be honest?” Luke sighed. “I have an idea where to start, but not more.”  
“Where you were captured?” Jason asked and Luke nodded.  
“And where was that?” Iolaus asked now.

“The island of Naxos,” Luke replied. “I ended up in the temple of Apollo there. And that’s where I was captured. I found the artefact I was looking for, but I was accused of having desecrated the temple and before I could say anything I was...” He broke off with a frown. “I don’t know why I wasn’t killed, but I won’t count my blessings.”

“Naxos,” Hercules said and rubbed the back of his neck. “Then we need to get to Athens and find a ship that can give us passage there.”

The four looked at each other. 

“Well, off to Athens, then,” Jason said, and the four of them continued on their way since they had already taken the road south.

* * *

In Athens, the summer solstice celebration in honour of Apollo was in full swing, and the streets were milling with people. All inns were chock-full and the street vendors were all sold out despite it only being shortly after noon. 

They had to squeeze through the masses of people and, heeding Iolaus’ advice as professional pickpocket, stuffed their pouches down their trousers to hide them behind their flies. They managed to reach the harbour unmolested and still in possession of all their belongings. 

And that was where the next problem presented itself: Due to the festival, there wasn’t a single ship that would be leaving the harbour anytime soon. And since they didn’t have the means to pay any captain to ferry them across, they would have to wait until the festivities were over. Not an easy feat with no rooming available. They would have to rough it for two more nights. 

Which was easier said than done. Just sleeping in a corner of some side road wasn’t as easy as it seemed at first, because at night there were drunks staggering around puking against walls and pissing into the gutters. 

Eventually, long after midnight, they found a dead end of a small, dark side alley somewhere close to the harbour and set up camp there, but they took turns in keeping watch. That, and in chasing the rats away. 

All four of them were knackered after those two nights, although Luke and Iolaus were far better off than their companions. They had spent the last months living in terrible hardship, and sleeping on cobblestones for two nights wasn’t something that bothered them too much. They weren’t in chains; little else mattered regarding their sleeping conditions. 

They were at the harbour again with first light and started looking for a ship that could take them to Naxos. 

It was there that they passed a galley moored at the largest pier. It was the same type of ship as the one where Luke and Iolaus had been held captive. 

Iolaus stared at the oars that hung limply down like the legs of a dead spider.

Jason and Hercules had no idea at first what made their friend stop and stare wide-eyed at the ship, but Luke immediately realised what the matter was. He quickly stepped between Iolaus and the ship and took both of his shoulders.

“Don’t look,” he said gently but firmly.  
“They’re inside,” Iolaus whispered hoarsely.  
“I know,” Luke said. “I know. But you can’t help them. We can’t. We simply can’t. Believe me, it’s driving me mad as well. We have to leave. We have to go.”

Iolaus stared at him with wide, tear-filled eyes and shook his head. “Luke...” He whispered.  
Luke rested both hands on Iolaus’ cheeks. “We have to go,” he said again. “It breaks my heart, and I know it breaks yours, but we can do nothing.”

Iolaus stared at the ship and seemed turned into stone.

“We need to get him away from here,” Luke said to the other two. 

Hercules nodded and draped an arm across Iolaus’ shoulders, then he firmly steered him away. Iolaus didn’t resist and stumbled along with an empty face and empty eyes.

At the end of the pier they stopped and Hercules made Iolaus sit down on one of the mooring posts. 

“What was that about?” Hercules asked then as he rested one hand on Iolaus’ shoulders.  
But Jason apparently hadn’t been affected as much by Iolaus’ behaviour. “It was the ship, right?” He asked. “The galley?”

Luke nodded and went into a crouch. “Iolaus,” he said and took both of his hands. “There are dozens of ships out there right now. In every harbour. Some of them are twice as large as this one. It’s...”  
“I know,” Iolaus interrupted him. “I know! But... it could have been us.”

Increasing the pressure of his fingers, Luke shook his head. “But it’s not. It’s not us. And it will never be again. We can’t help them. We can’t help any of them. I know it’s... terrible. We were just lucky.”  
Iolaus looked at him. “We had you,” he whispered.  
Luke smiled softly and ran his thumbs across the back of Iolaus’ hands. “Yes. And without you and your bravery, we would still be rowing. You prevailed. We prevailed. And that is all we will ever be able to do about this.”

Iolaus chewed his lips for a moment. Then he got up and walked towards the edge of the pier.

“I’m scared,” he whispered. “I don’t want to go to sea.”  
Hercules stepped to his side. “You’re not scared of the sea, Iolaus.”  
“He’s right.” Jason stepped to his other side. “There’s no reason to be.”  
“There were some who were captured by pirates and sold,” Iolaus replied.  
“Yes, right.” Jason sighed. “And you could be drugged in any tavern close to the coast and sold again. And inlands, you could be somewhere that is overrun by enemies who enslave you. I understand you’re afraid, Iolaus. But it’s not the sea you’re afraid of.”  
“I can’t swim either,” Iolaus said then, but it sounded different, and not as miserable. Not quite.  
“That’s something different,” Jason said. “You’re afraid of water, not of the sea.”

Then Iolaus turned around to look at Luke who was standing there in silence. 

“Are you afraid of going to sea again?” He asked.  
Luke dropped his arms and walked up to him. “Yes and no,” he said. “Yes, I am afraid, but I’m determined to get over it. I don’t want to let those memories rule my life. I will fight them. And you will do that too. You’re strong, Iolaus. You’re stronger than this.”

Iolaus fell against him and clamped his arms around Luke’s chest, and Luke closed both arms around him in a firm embrace. He buried his face into Iolaus’ hair. 

“I’m with you,” he muttered.  
“Will you protect me?” It was an utterly miserable whisper.  
“No,” Luke replied. Then he gently pushed Iolaus away and closed both hands around his shoulders. “Because I won’t have to. You are strong. You don’t need protection. I will fight at your side, to the very last drop of my blood. I have your back, but I don’t have to protect you. You can do that yourself.”

Iolaus swallowed and stared at Luke for a long time. Eventually he took a deep breath and was able to smile again, even if that smile was hardly there.

An hour later, Jason had found them a fishing boat; the captain had declared himself willing to give them passage to Naxos if they worked as part of his crew for the duration of the journey. 

They left Athens with the afternoon tide.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WinterFRE2017 - Prompt 23: They stumble through the darkness, fingers intertwined, hands holding on so tightly it begins to hurt. Don’t let go. [Angst]

Since their ship was a fisher boat and not a ferry they didn’t sail in a straight line through the Cyclades to Naxos; they crisscrossed along the currents after the fish. During that time, as agreed upon, the four of them worked sails and hauled nets and in general, were members of the crew that at this point consisted only of them and two other sailors. The captain had told them that he could always find men on Naxos he could hire, so he wouldn’t have to leave the island with only half a crew.

The first two days were uneventful and the nets remained empty. And then, on the third evening, they had found a shoal of anchovies and the net they hauled aboard was filled with a wriggling, writhing mass of small, sleek and silver bodies. The captain immediately set sail for Naxos and they would be there with sunrise. 

The captain wasn’t a wealthy man and his ship wasn’t a large vessel, and thus the provisions were poor as well: cheap, non-perishable and simple. 

“I was hoping I’d never have to eat that stuff again,” Iolaus remarked as they sat on deck that evening and chewed on hardtack and dried fish.   
“It’s not my favourite food either,” Hercules said and sighed. “As I discover.”

Iolaus shrugged and had another bite of the smoked fish. He and Luke were eating without making a face, and as opposed to Jason and Hercules they didn’t try to pick the flippers off the fish before eating them. 

“This is disgusting,” Jason suddenly said and threw the half-eaten fish he had in his hand overboard.

Luke froze and Iolaus who had just been about to take another bite lowered his hand, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Jason.

“What?” The latter asked defensively. “It is disgusting. I don’t have to eat that!”  
“No,” Iolaus said and exchanged a quick look with Luke. “You don’t. And you’re right, it’s disgusting.”  
“Then why do you eat it?” Jason crossed his arms.  
“Because I’m hungry?”  
“Jason,” Hercules said slowly because he had seen the look in Iolaus’ eyes. 

Jason opened his mouth and was about to say something else, when he suddenly snapped his mouth shut again. He cleared his throat and swallowed.

“I saw a basket of apples in the hold next to the crate with the hardtack,” Iolaus said to Jason. “You can have my share.”  
Jason couldn’t meet his eyes. “Thanks. And... sorry.”  
“What for?”  
“I didn’t...”  
“Forget it.” Iolaus stuffed the rest of his fish into his mouth. “You didn’t insult me or something, if that’s what you’re worried about. Just remember what a luxury it is to be able to throw food away.”

Jason licked his lips and nodded slowly. Then he got up and vanished below deck, carrying four apples when he came back again. He handed one to Luke and one to Hercules and kept the other two to himself. No one said anything, and no one looked at Iolaus who took another fish.

No one said anything else that evening.

* * *

After they had helped to unload the barrels full of fish the four said goodbye to the captain and his two men, then found themselves an inn to debate their further course of action. 

“So we need to go to the temple of Apollo,” Hercules said. “And that’s the easy part.”  
Luke nodded. “But I have no idea what to do or where to go if the items I’m after aren’t there.”  
“We take one step at a time,” Hercules replied. “Apollo first.” Then he lifted one hand. “Second,” he went on. “There’s one thing I want before I do anything else.”  
“And that is?” Luke asked.  
“Food,” Hercules replied.  
Iolaus slapped his back. “You’re a man after my own heart,” he said and they all grinned.

They ordered food, and since they had spent hardly any money in Athens they could afford a rich and opulent meal that evening; they had grilled meat, fish and vegetables together cheese, filled vine leaves, olives, grapes and bread so fresh it was still warm.

Since Luke and Iolaus had been on the road and short on money, even during the only night they had stayed in an inn during that time, this was the first meal of that kind they had seen since their time on the galley. Several times either Luke or Iolaus was close to tears while eating, and they ate slowly, sampled the tastes with closed eyes. The way they treated their food made Jason and Hercules, who had taken the meal more or less for granted, slow down as well.

They shared a room with two beds that night, their plan to get underway with the first light the next day. And while Hercules and Jason needed some awkward shuffling about in the bed until they settled down, Iolaus and Luke just curled up around each other in theirs and were asleep even before the other two had arranged themselves to their satisfaction.

* * *

They got up with the first light, and after a quick but filling breakfast got underway. It wasn’t a long way from the village to the temple of Apollo, but they wanted to be there before it got too hot. Naxos didn’t have much vegetation and thus, provided little shadow along the way. The road wasn’t that good and wound along the flanks of the hill, but they walked steadily and reached the temple well before noon. 

Both Luke and Iolaus were very silent, had been since they had left the bed, and the closer they got to the temple, the closer they walked together. They ended up holding hands as the temple came into view, and Jason and Hercules pretended not to notice. 

Having reached the temple the next problem that presented itself was the two priests who served there; they couldn’t just walk past them into the inner sanctuary. Offerings and sacrifices were made at the main altar. 

“So this is where you were captured?” Hercules asked in a low voice.

Luke nodded. “I… emerged down in the inner sanctum. The priests saw me and assumed I was desecrating the temple and stealing the artefacts. In truth I had just… I was still affected by the… transfer, so I did not hear them... which I should have. I should have heard them, or smelled them, but I was still dazed. So one of them knocked me over the head and while I was staggering from the blow the other threw a noose around my neck. He pulled and I passed out.” He took a deep breath, his face grin. “Next thing I know is finding myself in chains and being dragged onto the galley.”

“And why didn’t you use your powers?” Jason asked cautiously.  
“Alone, surrounded by armed men?” Luke frowned at him. “I was still shackled and chained. Even in my other form I would not have just been able to jump out of them. Not that I would ever have been able to change… they would have chopped my head off mid-transformation without a second thought.”

Hercules pressed his lips together. “I wonder why they didn’t kill you, I mean, you did desecrate the temple. In their eyes.”  
“Maybe they thought that was the better punishment,” Luke replied. “I do not particularly care, because I am still alive, and free.” He looked at Iolaus. “Thanks to you.”

Iolaus said nothing and forced a smile onto his face. Luke sighed and brushed a hand down his arm. 

“So,” Jason said then. “How do we get inside?”  
“We have to draw them out somehow,” Hercules said. “Draw them out, and then Luke can sneak down into the inner sanctum.”  
“And what if the artefact is not there?” Luke asked. “What then?”  
“Then we will have to…” Hercules rubbed a hand down his face. “I guess we have to try and find out where they took the things.”  
“Why not talk to them in the first place?” Jason asked.  
“Because they think I desecrated the temple and I cannot imagine they already forgot my face,” Luke said. “They will tell me nothing. They will more likely summon Apollo’s wrath on me to see me go up in flames.”

“We will distract them.” Hercules nodded. “And I have just the right idea.”  
“I don’t like that voice,” Jason said and crossed his arms. “And I don’t like that look in your eyes either.”  
“So what are you going to do?” Iolaus asked and looked at Hercules with a frown.  
“I will steal the sacred bowl for the offerings.”  
“YOU WHAT?” Three voices snapped at him in unison. 

“Apollo is going to burn you into a crisp!” Iolaus said.  
“No, he won’t,” Hercules said smugly. “Order of Zeus.”  
“Order of who?” Luke asked, his eyes so wide they were about to fall out of his head.

Hercules quickly explained the matter to him.

“Zeus won’t be happy,” Luke said then, shaking his head.  
“It’s for a greater good!”

Hercules cracked his knuckles and gestured at the others to stay hidden, but then waved Jason over. Luke and Iolaus crept closer, as close to the entrance as they could while still being invisible behind a few bushes.

Jason and Hercules entered the temple.

Moments later, they heard Jason yell at the top of his lungs. 

“He stole the bowl! He stole the bowl of offerings!”

Hercules shot out of the temple, the bowl under one arm. He was followed by the two priests wielding their staffs, and those were followed by Jason who, behind their back, gestured hastily at Luke and Iolaus. 

While the priests ran down the path, guided be Jason while Hercules was nowhere to be seen, Luke and Iolaus hurried into the temple and past the altar to the stairs down into the inner sanctum. 

Hercules watched the priests vanish as he clung to the pediment above the entrance. With a grin he hopped down onto a pillar on which he elegantly slid down. He hurried back inside, replaced the bowl and checked the entrance. 

Downstairs, in the inner sanctum, Luke and Iolaus found an old, dusty and completely unspectacular shard of pottery on the sacred altar. 

“Is this what you were after?” Iolaus asked.  
Luke nodded. “I do not know what these priests see in this. The artefact was shattered, and the pieces catapulted not only across the world but also into different times. The Shadowhunters have hopes of being able to use this art…”  
“Shadowhunters?”  
Luke exhaled with puffed cheeks. “My allies,” he said then. “They cannot leave their stronghold unguarded and they have their own battles going on there. So they asked us to help them find the artefacts.”

Iolaus frowned at him. “So they sent you… a canine skin changer…”  
“A werewolf,” Luke said absentmindedly while walking around the altar.  
“They sent you after the artefact?”  
“Yes,” Luke said and looked up again. 

“So what you’re doing is basically a very sophisticated game of…” Iolaus began with a small grin.  
“No,” Luke said, pointing at him with lowered eyebrows.  
“Fetch,” Iolaus said, unable to resist.  
“I am a werewolf, not a golden retriever!”  
“Is that some kind of dog?”  
“Yes.”

The two looked at each other and Luke shook his head with an exasperated sigh. Then he turned around to look at the altar again.

“So there it is,” Luke said slowly. “The shard, and my key.”  
“Key?”

Luke pointed at a disc that was lying next to the shard. “I guess they thought I robbed other temples too and stored it here for safekeeping. But this is how I got here. Or rather, this is how I get home.”

He took the disc and showed it to Iolaus. It was the size of his palm and perfectly round, and twelve runes had been carved into the edge, similar to the face of a clock. In the middle of that disc, another disc was mounted, also with twelve runes. Luke turned the upper, smaller disc.

“I have to turn the smaller disc so the runes align in the correct order,” he explained. “That will reverse the effect of the spell that got me here.”

He faltered and fell silent. Then Luke looked up at Iolaus with an unhappy frown. Iolaus looked back while gritting his teeth. 

“So this is it, then,” Iolaus said hesitantly.  
Luke swallowed hard. “I… I have to go home,” he said in a low voice.  
“I know,” Iolaus replied and tried to smile. “It’s just… I kind of got used to you.”

After looking at him for a moment, Luke dropped the disc onto the altar, stepped close and slung both arms around him. Iolaus buried his face into his shoulder and clamped his arms around Luke in turn.

“I owe you my life,” Iolaus whispered. “And so much more. Without you, I’d be in a brothel in Cairo by now reduced to a piece of meat. Without you…” He broke off and tried to swallow a sob.  
“I would not have been able to do anything without your bravery and your sacrifice,” Luke replied in a trembling voice. “Without that brooch…”  
“I wouldn’t have made any effort to get it if you hadn’t told me that you could free us all without those shackles.” Iolaus leaned back and looked up at him. “And if you hadn’t helped me keep my sanity I wouldn’t even have bothered anymore. I would have let him have me and would have been happy to get an apple in return.”  
Luke cradled his face in his hands. “Neither of us could have done it without the other, Iolaus. You owe me nothing.”

Iolaus swallowed and blinked a few times but his eyes were filling with tears. “I will miss you, Luke the skin changer,” he whispered.   
“I will miss you too, Iolaus,” Luke whispered hoarsely. “But this… as much as I want it, it cannot be. Because we both know Chairon is right. I do not belong here. And I have a duty to fulfil. I have to bring the shard back home.”  
“I know,” Iolaus whispered.

Luke ran his thumbs across Iolaus’ cheekbones. They both had tears in their eyes now and Iolaus was gritting his teeth again. Then he stepped back and let Luke’s hands drop from his face.

Luke slung his bag off his shoulder and carefully put the shard inside. Then he took the disk and slowly, his eyes narrow in concentration, he put it onto the ground and turned the smaller disc a few times. He stepped back, and moments later a speck of darkness rose from the centre of the disc. It grew until it was a bit larger than a man and about twice as wide. 

After a heavy sigh, Luke slung his bag across his shoulder and turned around again. The two looked at each other for a long, hard moment. 

Then Luke stepped forward and pulled Iolaus close. Their lips met, a gentle touch at first, but then Iolaus threw his arms around Luke again and their kiss turned from gentle to passionate, but it was a kiss of despair and it tasted of salt. 

Neither of the two was aware that Hercules and Jason had entered the sanctum as well. They had only eyes for each other as they parted. Luke wiped his eyes as he stepped towards the portal, and he looked back one last time. 

Iolaus looked at him with a stony face and made no attempt at hiding his tears anymore. “Farewell,” whispered.  
“Farewell,” Luke whispered back, his eyes red and his cheeks moist as well. Then he picked up the disc and stepped through the portal. 

The darkness began to waft, like smoke stirring in the breeze. Iolaus wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and curled it into a fist that he pressed onto his mouth. 

Then he spurted and jumped, and the last thing he heard before the darkness swallowed him was Hercules screaming his name. 

The orb of blackness vanished like a mouth snapping shut and left an empty room behind, and two men who stared at the emptiness before them in disbelief and shock.

* * *

Iolaus careened into something the moment he entered the darkness and he heard a muffled grunt. Simultaneously he was grabbed by a pair of hands that clearly ended in claws, and he screamed and tried to tear himself free. The claws immediately let go again, then one hand touched Iolaus’ upper arm. 

“Iolaus?”  
“Luke?”

It was pitch black here, there was literally no light. It was absolute, infinite darkness. 

“What are you doing here?” Luke’s voice sounded helpless and confused.  
“I…”  
“What have you done?” Now the words were full of despair. “Iolaus, what have you done?”

Iolaus didn’t answer at first. “I jumped in after you.”  
“Why?” Luke’s voice was shaky. “Why did you do that?”  
“I… I wanted to be with you.”

Luke sighed. “It’s… Iolaus…”  
“I…” Iolaus swallowed. “I should go back, you mean?”  
“You cannot,” Luke said simply, his voice leaden. “The portal is gone. The key I have works only in one direction.”

Turning around, Iolaus could only see infinite blackness behind him as well. He shuddered and his voice broke on the first syllable. He had to clear his throat and try again. 

“So… So I have to stay here?”  
“No,” Luke said hastily and his hand closed around Iolaus’ arm. “No, I will not leave you here. But there is no way back.”  
“I know,” Iolaus said in a voice that was so low it was almost a whisper. 

Luke took another deep breath, then he ran his hand down Iolaus’ arm until he found his hand. He closed his fingers around it and Iolaus held on. 

“Do not let go,” Luke said. “Do not let go. In this darkness we will never be able to find each other again if we lose this contact.”  
Iolaus swallowed hard. “I won’t,” he whispered. “But how do you know the way?”  
“There is no way,” Luke said as he walked.   
Iolaus followed the tug of his hand. “No way?”  
“No.” Luke walked slowly, intent on keeping Iolaus as close as possible. “There was no path on my way there. I just walked. Through the darkness. There is nothing here. Just darkness.”

It was also cold. Wherever, whatever this was. There was nothing in this absolute darkness. The sound of their breathing seemed like gushes of storm, the only sound apart from their footsteps. 

“How long did you walk last time?” Iolaus whispered.   
“I have no idea,” Luke whispered back. “I do not think time exists in this place.”

They walked on, silently and slowly. 

Iolaus was freezing. He was so cold he wanted to sit down and cry, but then he thought of the oars. Of the whip. Of the shackles. He got through all that. He could do this. But it was so bitterly cold here that his fingers and feet grew numb.

And suddenly, he stumbled and lost his grip. He was on his knees, and he hadn’t even hurt himself, but Luke was gone.

“Luke?”  
“Iolaus!” 

Both their voices were shaky, filled with terror.

“Luke?” Iolaus asked again. “Luke? Oh by all the gods… Luke!”  
“Iolaus!” 

It was impossible to tell where he was, no sense of direction remained in this darkness. 

“Iolaus!”  
“I’m here!”  
“Do not move!” Luke yelled. “Do not move!”  
“I won’t!” Iolaus almost choked on these words. 

He was trapped here. Here, in this absolute, infinite darkness. Time didn’t exist here, so he would be trapped here forever. He would never see daylight again. And he couldn’t even die. 

A sob escaped him he had no means to control. 

Swallowed by infinite, absolute darkness. His heartbeat and his breathing were the only sounds.

Suddenly something touched his leg and he screamed in absolute panic. A growl was the answer, a low, throaty growl that only made his terror worse. He kicked and flailed and screamed Luke’s name, until something heavy fell onto him and pinned him to the ground. His breath exploded from his lungs and he stilled.

Something small, cold and wet touched his cheek. It felt like a… 

...dog nose?

“Luke?” He asked in a tiny, scared voice. His hands grabbled in the darkness, found thick fur, and groped around until they found what had to be a leg. He was about to recoil in horror when he could feel the fur vanish under his hand and turn into skin, but he held on with all his strength.

“Luke?” His voice didn’t carry anymore.  
“Iolaus,” Luke whispered breathlessly. “Mother of mercy…”  
“Luke… I’m sorry…”  
“Iolaus,” Luke whispered again. “It is all right. You don’t have to be sorry, I did not pay enough attention either. I should have held on tighter. But I found you.”

Iolaus found himself enveloped by a pair of arms and pressed his face against Luke’s chest, feeling bare skin under his cheek. They held on to each other for a moment. Then Luke let go of him. 

“Hold on to me,” he said. “I have to get dressed again.”  
“But… why are you naked?”  
“I cannot turn when dressed, or rather, I can, but I ruin the clothes in the process. I undressed and had to drag everything along in my mouth. Just lost my shoes.”  
“How… how did you find me?”  
“Your scent,” Luke said. “The only sense that is reliable here, apparently.”

Iolaus held on to Luke’s hair while Luke put his trousers back on, and he closed his hand around Luke’s leg as the latter put on his shirt and slipped the bag over his shoulder. Without letting go of each other’s hand they somehow got onto their feet again. 

“Do not let go,” Luke whispered. 

Tired and on feet numb from the cold they stumbled through the darkness, fingers intertwined, their hands holding on so tightly it began to hurt. 

“Don’t let go,” Iolaus said, in a trembling voice.

Iolaus’ fingers felt as if trapped between two millstones, so hard was Luke gripping his hand, but he held on to Luke’s hand with an equally desperate grip. 

“What if we can’t find out of here?” Iolaus asked.  
“We will.”

They walked and stumbled through the darkness, clinging to each other’s hand. Walking and shivering in the absolute, infinite, ice-cold blackness. 

They could have been here for hours, or days. Time lost all meaning, and it was well possible that time didn’t exist anymore. Coldness and darkness was all that filled their mind.

And then, suddenly, there was a light. They both sped up, hurrying towards the bright, almost blinding orb and half-stumbled, half-fell through the curtain of light out of the darkness to land on a polished wooden floor.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WinterFRE2017 - Prompt 72: Because he only speaks Ancient Greek, you idiot!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to work with two languages is a bit tricky. I used _italics_ for foreign words and [ _words in italics_ ] in square brackets for direct speech in Greek. I decided to leave the square brackets for single foreign words to not disrupt the flow too much. I hope it makes sense, if not, let me know and I figure out a better system.

After getting their senses back they both dragged themselves onto their feet, and looked at two very hostile people. They were pointing guns at them, magical and regular ones respectively.

Since the retrieval of the Mortal Cup quite a few Shadowhunters had come to Brooklyn to lay their eyes on the artefact, and some of them had stayed. Those included Rob and Stacey, a couple in their early thirties. Rob was a fighter like Jace, Alec and Isabelle, while Stacey was a powerful mage. The circle that had sent Luke towards the artefact as well as the key to bring him back had been her work. 

“Hold it!” Luke threw both arms up. “It’s me! It’s Luke!”

The faces of the two relaxed somewhat, but now Iolaus was the centre of attention. He had just adjusted his belt and tugged at his vest, now he looked around with a bright, albeit somewhat nervous smile. 

“What is this?” Stacey asked with narrowing eyes.  
“Not what, who.” Luke looked at Iolaus who was still smiling. The look in his eyes was one of puzzlement, though. “This is Iolaus.”

Iolaus’ smile widened and he lifted one hand for a small, cheerful wave.

“Luke.” Rob lowered his gun and sighed. “What in god’s name is he doing here?”  
Luke took a deep breath and tried to smile. “He followed me home...”  
“No, you can’t keep him,” Stacey snapped. “He can’t stay here!”

“And how am I going to send him back?” Luke asked after looking pointedly behind him where no trace of the portal remained. “We said goodbye and as I left he jumped in after me!”  
“He what?” Stacey took a step forward.

“It wasn’t my fault!”  
“It wasn’t?” Stacey glared at him, her eyes ablaze with fury. “How could he be anywhere near the portal if you hadn’t let him?”  
“I was...” Luke dragged both hands down his face. “Look, it’s a long story. Can we maybe... I got the artefact, do you want it or not?”

Stacey pressed her lips together and took a step forward, holding out her hand. Luke handed her the shard, and the moment she touched it, her anger vanished and turned into awe. Then she looked up at Luke again and the frown was back. 

“We were about to give up on you! You’ve been gone for months! So long that we thought you were lost! And then you suddenly show up here with...” She waved her hand at Iolaus. “Him?”

Iolaus smiled brightly. Stacey glowered at him and the smile vanished. 

Shaking her head, Stacey stepped towards the wall where several other shards like the one Luke had given her lay on a table. She cautiously put the shard down next to the others and turned around again.

“Story time,” she said to Luke. 

She was a powerful mage fully in control of her powers, and also, together with Rob, a good bit older than the others. She didn’t look like much with her slight stature and white-blonde pixie cut, but Luke had seen her crush a demon to a pulp from twenty feet away. The Shadowhunters didn’t have ranks as such, but the two had turned into tutors and teachers for the others, due to their experience. Of course she would feel protective, and she had no idea what Iolaus was, but in Luke’s books that didn’t excuse her behaviour.

“Look,” Luke said. “These last months have been hell and I’m exhausted and...”  
“Who is he, Luke, and what is he doing here?”  
“You don’t have any right to talk to me that way after what I’ve been through to get that stupid shard!” Luke snarled at her, finally fed up enough by her attitude. “I wasn’t on a fucking holiday down there sipping wine and getting my ass toasted at a beach!”

Stacey crossed her arms. 

“Story time,” Luke said and his eyes turned from amber to brown again. “I showed up exactly where planned, next to the shard. Only, that was located in the temple of Apollo on the island of Naxos. And the priests saw and heard me and thought I was there desecrating the temple and to steal the artefact. I was dazed after the transportation and... They were faster than me. They knocked me over the head and pulled a noose around my neck, and when I woke up I was in chains and being dragged onto a galley.”  
“A galley?”  
“You know what a galley is?” Luke asked with lifted eyebrows.  
“I know what a galley is. What were you doing there?”  
“I was chained to a bench and forced to pull an oar,” Luke said.

Taking a deep breath, Stacey adjusted her position. Some of the hostility vanished out of her eyes. 

“I was trapped there. The wolf couldn’t help me with these chains, so I just kept on rowing and waited for a chance to escape. And then, one day, shortly after the man who pulled the oar with me had kicked the bucket, they brought him on board.” He pointed at Iolaus who was still smiling, but his smile looked a little faked by now. “I... I don’t want to go into much detail for now. But it was him who managed to pick my locks, and once free, I could make a surprise attack and set us all free. He saved me, and he helped me find the artefact and the key.”

At that moment the door opened and the others stormed in.

“Is he back?” Clary asked breathlessly. “We could feel the portal!”

They were grinning, but the grins vanished as they looked back and forth between Luke and Stacey.

Ignoring them, Stacey looked at Iolaus and sighed. “And why did you take him with you?”  
“I didn’t,” Luke replied. “We said goodbye... and he jumped in after me.”  
“You know that he wasn’t supposed to know this.”  
“Of course not. But after he was there when I changed to save me, him and every other slave on that ship, what was I to tell him? Without him we wouldn’t have the shard because I would still be chained to a bench on a galley, pulling an oar and getting flogged for not working hard enough.”

A few of the others had flinched at the word flogged. Now all eyes came to rest on Iolaus again.

“[ _They’re not happy I’m here, right?_ ]” Iolaus whispered.  
Luke sighed. “[ _You did not think they would be, did you?_ ]” He whispered back.  
Iolaus smiled crookedly at him and, still in a whisper, he said: “[ _I have to admit that I didn’t really think this through._ ]”

Stacey looked back and forth between the two. “I still don’t understand why he followed you.”

Luke looked at Iolaus with a nervous frown.

Stacey huffed and her mouth fell open. “No,” she said. “Fuck, no...”  
“What?” Clary said, sounding slightly nervous.  
“Seriously?” Stacey snapped at Luke. “You’re meaning to tell me you came back here with your fucktoy!”  
“Stacey!” Rob said sharply.

“He is not my fucktoy!” Luke roared, eyes flashing to amber again. “And I didn’t bring him along! We said goodbye and I left, how was I supposed to know he’s reckless enough to jump in after me? Should I have left him in there?”  
“He shouldn’t have been there at all!”  
“No, he shouldn’t have been!” Luke’s eyes were still amber. “But without him I wouldn’t be here! And here we are, having been through hell and the Darkness Between, and all you do is insult both of us!”

The younger Shadowhunters stared back and forth between Luke and Stacey, frozen to the spot.

“Stacey, that’s quite enough!” Now Rob stepped forward. “You know he’s no danger to us, right?”  
“No danger?” She looked at her husband. “How do we know we can trust him?”  
“I trust him,” Luke says. “I trust him with my life.”

Now Rob looked at Iolaus. “I’m not sure I can welcome you here, but Luke vouches for you. But I swear, I will not hesitate to kill both of you to protect this coven.”  
Iolaus gave him a slightly nervous smile.  
Rob looked at Luke. “What kind of half-wit is that? Does he understand anything I say?”  
Luke rolled his eyes. “No, because...”  
“Because what?” Rob snapped impatiently.  
“Because he only speaks ancient Greek, you idiot!”

Iolaus hooked his thumbs into his belt and tried to look unthreatening and harmless and friendly. 

“Right.” Rob pinched the bridge of his nose. “He’s your job, not mine. He’s stuck here now anyway.”  
“Don’t worry,” Luke said. “Now can I please have a shower, put on proper clothes and take a nap?”

Rob exchanged a look with Stacey and gestured at her to remain silent. “Go home for now,” he said. “We will be in touch. It will take a while though, we have to focus on the artefact.”  
“Which is none of my business anyway,” Luke said, his eyebrows still drawn together into a fierce scowl.

“[ _Come along,_ ]” he said to Iolaus.  
Iolaus sighed and cast Rob and Stacey a nervous look. “[ _I got you into trouble, didn’t I?_ ]”  
“[ _It is nothing I cannot handle._ ]”

He patted Iolaus’ shoulder, but as he was about to turn away, Rob spoke again.

“Luke.”  
Luke turned around.  
Rob inclined his head. “Thank you.”  
Now Luke inhaled deeply and nodded. “I didn’t have to do this.”  
“I know.”  
“I really would have appreciated not being yelled at and accused of treason directly after emerging.”  
“You will forgive her, I hope, for feeling protective?”  
“She wasn’t protective, she was aggressive and insulting and I’m not sure I can do that anytime soon.”

With that, Luke turned around and left the chamber.

Rob turned to Stacey with a sigh. “Was that necessary?”  
“I’d rather err on the side of caution.”

“Stacey,” Jace said then. “I think you might have lost us an ally.”  
“Why?” She turned around to face him.  
“Because of the way you just talked to him after what he’s been through?”  
“Well maybe he should have kept to the rules then!”  
“He’s a werewolf and not a dog to play fetch for you, and you have no right to treat him like one!”

Clary shook her head, then she turned on her heel and ran after Luke.

“Luke!”

Luke stopped and turned around. Clary threw her arms around him after catching up with him.

“Luke, I’m so sorry...”  
Luke closed his arms around her. “It wasn’t your fault, Clary.”  
“Stacey is so powerful, and she teaches us a lot,” Clary said with a sigh. “But she’s a bossy bitch. I’m sorry.” Then she touched Luke’s cheek. “Welcome home.”

Luke hugged her again. “Thanks,” he muttered.  
“Will you leave us?” She asked as she leaned back. “Jace said we lost you as an ally.”  
After a deep sigh, Luke shrugged. “I need to digest that. Probably not. But you can tell Stacey that no werewolf of my pack is going to do her another favour anytime soon. You owe us.”  
“I know,” Clary said. “And we’re grateful. And we know we owe you. And by now I guess Jace is well on his way to remind her that there are no ranks among the Shadowhunters.”

“I have to think about this when I’m not about to keel over,” Luke said after a moment.  
“Your room is still there,” Clary replied. “Though I imagine you’d rather go home right now.”  
“I’m not sure I can handle traffic in Brooklyn in my current state. I’d rather sleep some of that off.”  
“I get you some food,” Clary said with a smile.  
“Thank you.”

Then Clary looked at Iolaus and smiled a bit nervously. Luke tilted his head.

“Sorry,” Clary said hastily and shook her head. “I just... I’m just a bit surprised that... I’m sorry. I just thought you were straight...”  
Luke chuckled. “It’s okay. It’s not as if I go around introducing myself with the words ‘Hey, I’m Luke, I am a werewolf and I swing both ways’.”  
Clary tried to hold back a giggle. “Sorry,” she said. “Never assume anything, hm?”  
Luke grinned at her and shook his head.

Then Clary looked at Iolaus. “You look okay,” she said. “And if Luke trusts you, then I do as well.”

Luke translated, and Iolaus smiled. “[ _It’s appreciated_ ],” he said. 

Clary smiled at Luke. “He’s got beautiful eyes. You got a good taste.”

Luke shook his head with a faint blush. Next to him, Iolaus tried to suppress a snicker. Apparently he had made a good guess as to what Clary had just said.

“This day sucks,” Luke muttered to himself as he dragged a hand down his face. “Is it almost over?”  
“What?” Clary tilted her head.  
“Nothing.” Luke sighed. “I didn’t exactly plan this, you know? It sort of... happened.”  
“It’s okay. Things happen. Go and rest, I bring you something to eat.”

She left again, and Luke led Iolaus through several corridors, down a flight of stairs and along another corridor. He opened a door and stepped inside, and Iolaus followed him. 

“I do not really live here,” Luke explained. “But since we became allies, we were given a few rooms here at our disposal, as a safe house, so to speak.”  
Iolaus nodded and then licked his lips. “I have to ask you something about them.”  
“Ask.”  
“They didn’t understand me, right?”  
“No, they did not.”  
“So why... so why do you speak my language and they don’t?”

Luke pursed his lips in thought for a small moment. “I put a lot of effort into learning it,” he said. “I was always interested in old things and wanted to study arch... the knowledge about old and forgotten cultures. I learned Latin too, but...” He smiled crookedly. “I could do little about pronunciation because no one speaks this language anymore. I listened to Modern Greek but it helped little.”  
Iolaus nodded. “I see. It was hard work, wasn’t it?”  
“It was.”  
Iolaus nudged Luke’s arm with his fist. “I can understand everything you say!”  
“I still have an atrocious accent though, right?”  
“Yes, but I’m sure your Greek is better than my... uh...”  
“English, if you mean my native language.”

Iolaus nodded again and looked around. Then he shifted from one foot to another.

“Iolaus?”  
“Where’s the privy?” Iolaus asked.  
Luke opened another door. “The bathroom is here.”  
Iolaus shook his head. “I don't want to take a bath, I need to piss.”  
“That is where you do it.”  
“You piss into your bath?”  
“No, into the _toilet_!”  
“What's a toy…let?”

They stared at each other.

“This is going to be awkward, isn't it?” Iolaus asked.  
Luke sighed with closed eyes. “Yes.”

Luke led Iolaus into the bathroom and opened the lid of the toilet. “You sit down here and do your business.”

Iolaus nodded, an expression on his face as if he wasn’t quite sure if Luke was trying to play him for a sucker. Luke took a roll of toilet paper and explained its use as well, pointed at the button to flush, and then he showed him the sink and the soap.

“Does that make sense?”  
Iolaus took the toilet paper with a determined nod. “I think I can do the rest on my own.”

Luke closed the bathroom door and walked over to a chest of drawers where he kept some clothing. He took a few things out that he laid out on the bed, because he planned to take a shower first. Then he frowned. Another thing he would have to explain. He would have a lot of explaining to do in the near future.

The bathroom door opened and Iolaus emerged with a bright smile. “That was great!”  
Luke looked past him. “You have to turn the water off again,” he said and stepped into the bathroom to close the tap.  
“Oh...” Iolaus looked confused.  
Luke sighed. “No, Iolaus, it does not just come out of the wall.”

They stared at each other again, then Luke stepped forward, rested his hands on Iolaus’ cheeks and kissed him.

“We figure this out.”  
“If you say so,” Iolaus said, more than a trace of doubt in his voice.  
“One step at a time,” Luke said and stepped back again. “And now I am going to teach you what a shower is.”

Iolaus tilted his head questioningly.

“Trust me,” Luke said with a slow smile. “You will like it. It involves getting naked.”  
Iolaus stepped closer with a smouldering look. “I like it already,” he said and shrugged his vest off his shoulders.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WinterFRE2017 - Prompt 91 “You can lie to yourself but don’t lie to me.”

Iolaus quickly discovered that showers were his new favourite. Luke couldn’t quite make him understand that this water wasn’t something infinite that just happened, and Iolaus had a hard time understanding how you could pay for water, especially water that just came out of the wall. 

In the end, Luke had asked him to just accept it, and a lot of things he would tell him about this world, as facts.

“I am not sure I can explain all those things on a level you would understand,” he said. “And I do not mean that you are stupid. But this is all…”  
“Strange,” Iolaus said and looked around in the room. The ceiling light caught his attention. “How do you blow out that light if it’s in a glass bowl under the ceiling?”  
“It is not a flame that you blow out.” Luke sighed. “You just switch it off.”

Iolaus looked around and after pressing his lips together for a moment, shrugged and dropped his towel. Luke stared at him for a moment, even if they had just taken a rather extensive shower together. Iolaus stretched and arched his back and Luke had to swallow. 

“You are so beautiful,” he said softly.  
Iolaus turned around with a small grin. “You’re not so bad yourself,” he said. 

Before Luke could say anything else Iolaus had his arms around him. “I know what I would like to do with you if I wasn’t so hungry,” he purred. “Or I might just have to devour you.”  
“I am sure I would not mind the former,” Luke said and closed his hands around Iolaus’ perfect backside. “But I could do with some food as well.”

There was a sheet of paper on the bed, a note from Clary, informing them that she had put the pizza into the bed under the blanket to keep it warm. 

“Pee… tzaa?” Iolaus frowned at the three flat, square boxes. “It doesn’t look edible.”  
“The _pizza_ is inside,” Luke said and opened the first box. “See?”

Iolaus bent over the box and sniffed, and his face lit up. “That smells good!” He hopped onto the bed and settled down cross-legged, leaning against the headboard. “How do you eat that?”

Luke opened his mouth, then he shut it again and sat down on the bed as well. He placed the three pizza cartons between them. 

“I think I have never eaten _pizza_ in the nude,” he said with a crooked grin.

Iolaus grinned back and watched as Luke opened the boxes. 

“There is one with ham,” he said and pointed at one of the pizzas. “One with _pepperoni_ and a plain one, just cheese and _tomatoes._ ”  
“What is peppereponi?”  
“Pepperoni is a kind of sausage.” Luke was biting back a grin.  
Iolaus started with a piece of _pizza_ with that _pepperoni_ sausage. His face turned into an expression of utter bliss, and he devoured the piece in four bites. “Gods, I could eat a horse, hooves and all,” he said and took another one. “This is amazing!”

Luke smiled at him as he ate. Iolaus displayed such a pure, almost childish joy it was more than endearing. 

They made short work of the three pizzas and after Luke had disposed of the boxes, he settled down in the bed next to Iolaus who had stretched out with a sigh of contentment. He reached out and gently ran a hand down Iolaus’ chest. Iolaus opened his eyes and turned his head to look at him. 

“Do you like what you see?” He asked in a low voice.  
“Very much so,” Luke said. “I think I will never get tired of looking at you.”  
“And you’re not even restraint to looking only,” Iolaus purred with a low-lidded smile.  
“No,” Luke whispered and leaned over him. “Thank god.”  
“Which one?”

Luke looked up at him with a puzzled smile. “I guess in this case it would be a goddess, right? Aphrodite, I mean.”  
“I am a gift from Aphrodite?” Iolaus asked with an incredulous chuckle.  
“To me you are.” Luke dropped a few kisses onto Iolaus’ face, his lips and down his neck. “A gift from the gods.”

Iolaus meant to chuckle, but it turned into a soft moan when Luke’s lips travelled down his body. 

“Luke,” he gasped as Luke passed his navel. He reared up and tugged gently at Luke’s hair to make him look up.  
“Hm?” Luke smiled up at him.  
“Don’t…” Iolaus swallowed. “You don’t… don’t do it. It’s… You really don’t have to.”  
“What if I want to?”

Iolaus stared at him with his mouth hanging open. “Why would anyone want that?” He asked in helpless confusion.  
Luke propped himself up on one elbow, the other hand resting on Iolaus’ hip. “Have you never done it willingly, just because you wanted to?” He frowned in dismay.  
Iolaus could only shake his head.

Luke dropped his head with a heavy sigh. “I am sorry,” he whispered. “You should not… I am sorry you were put through all that.” Then he looked up. “But I can promise you, I only do things that I really want. And I ask the same of you. I know you… had to do a lot of things you did not want. Do not do it with me, or for me. Do only what you want.”  
This time Iolaus nodded, hesitantly and clearly still puzzled. 

“I want this,” Luke whispered with a smile. “Have you ever been on the receiving end of this?”  
Iolaus nodded. “Once,” he said. “Long ago, though. A girl I met… back then. We were both living on the street back then. She did it, but we were both drunk… it wasn’t spectacular, really. It didn’t feel... you really don’t have to do it.”  
Luke chuckled and looked at Iolaus with a dark smirk. “Nothing spectacular? Are you ready to get convinced that is exactly what this is supposed to be?”  
“Spectacular?” Iolaus tilted his head. “Really?”  
“Trust me?”

Iolaus swallowed. “Yes,” he whispered. “Always.”  
“Then lean back and enjoy,” Luke whispered back and licked his lips. “You may not believe it, but if you do it with someone you like, then giving is as much joy as receiving.”

Iolaus’ throat was so dry it was audible as he swallowed. Luke smiled again and lowered his head. He traced a few more kisses towards his goal. Iolaus began to squirm. 

“Tell me to stop if it does not feel good,” Luke whispered. 

Iolaus clearly meant to reply, but as he opened his mouth the only sound that escaped him was a low, somewhat surprised moan. His head dropped back into the pillow, and he stared open-mouthed and wide-eyed at the ceiling. It wasn’t before too long that he started to tremble and he arched his back, but then he forced himself onto his elbows. 

He stared at Luke with a flushed face, wide eyes, his mouth hanging open and his hair all over the place. 

“Luke,” he whispered drily. “Don’t… you don’t have to… finish.”  
Without lifting his head Luke looked up at him and just stopped what he was doing long enough to say: “But I want to.”

Iolaus fell back with another moan. He had no means to resist, and a moment later didn’t want to anymore anyway. 

When Luke crawled back to his side, Iolaus had been reduced to a boneless, sweaty mess.

Luke cradled him into his arms and kissed his forehead. “And?”  
“And what?” Iolaus muttered against Luke’s furry chest.  
“On a scale of zero to ten, how spectacular was this now?”  
“Eleven,” Iolaus muttered.  
Luke chuckled, and looked very pleased with himself.  
“Should I return the favour?” Iolaus’ voice was muffled by Luke’s chest.  
“Only if you really, really want to.”  
“In a bit.” It was hardly audible anymore.

Luke smiled gently down at him and pulled up the blanket. He kissed Iolaus’ forehead again and settled back into the pillow.

They both were asleep within moments.

* * *

Iolaus was not easy to convince to leave the bed the next morning, and in the end Luke just stole the blanket. He sighed deeply as he watched him, still only wearing his skin, how he curled up and buried his face into the pillow. 

“Food?” Luke offered.  
Iolaus uncurled. “In bed?”  
“Another time. I want to go home.”

Iolaus sat up with a pout. Then he yawned and stretched, and as he got up Luke licked his lips and sighed again. 

Iolaus looked at him over his shoulder with a knowing little smirk. “You still like what you see?”  
“Stop asking stupid questions.”

Chuckling, Iolaus went to hunt for his clothes. Once they were both dressed they left the Institute without a word to the others, apart from Clary who they met on their way out. 

At one point on their way to the main gate, Luke noticed that Iolaus was staring at him.

“What?”  
“You look so...” Iolaus gestured at him and his apparel. “Different?”  
Luke had to grin. “You mean my clothes?”  
Iolaus nodded.  
“That is the way people dress here.”  
“I... you look weird.”  
“You will get used to it.”

Having reached the gate Luke activated the mechanism that locked the heavy double doors, and Iolaus stared with wide eyes at the various cogwheels that turned and snapped around. The door opened and they stepped outside.

The smile died on Iolaus’ face as he stepped out. His movements slowed down until he seemed frozen on the spot.

Slowly, very slowly, he turned his head to look around, his mouth hanging open and his eyes almost impossibly white. He looked around again, and still almost in slow motion, lifted his head to stare straight upward. 

They were in the middle of Brooklyn, and of course Iolaus had never seen a skyscraper in his life. But even the older houses with several stories were larger than anything he would have been able to imagine. 

“There’s no sky,” he whispered after a moment.  
“Oh, there is.” Luke smiled. “It is just cloudy. We do have sunshine here in Brooklyn. Just not as much as Greece.”

Iolaus shuddered, and Luke frowned at him. The young man had only eyes for his surroundings, but he slung both arms around his chest as if he was hugging himself. He stared upward as if he was looking for the sun. 

“It’s so cold,” he said, his voice a little shaky. 

Luke shook his head with an angry snort. He had forgotten about the fact that Iolaus was bare-chested under the vest, and it wasn’t nearly as warm here as it had been down there. He quickly shrugged his leather jacket off and draped it around Iolaus’ shoulders.

“Yes,” he said then. “I almost forgot how cold Brooklyn can be compared to where you come from.”

Iolaus was clutching the jacket, but he still hadn’t looked at Luke. 

“Come on,” Luke said and rested a hand between Iolaus’ shoulders. 

Iolaus followed him, stumbling over his own feet because he still couldn’t’ tear his eyes away from these impossibly high houses. 

“How many people live here?” He asked.  
“In Brooklyn? I have no idea.”  
“No... there...” He pointed at one of the larger skyscrapers.  
“Oh. Several hundred people, I guess.”  
“In one house?” Iolaus’ voice almost broke.  
“They are big,” Luke said. “There is not as much space here for so many people in this city, so the houses are also built high. We call them sky scrapers.”  
“They reach the sky?”  
“It certainly looks that way.”

Iolaus stared up and swallowed. “I have a feeling I’m not in Greece anymore...”

Then he shook his head as he followed Luke, very silent, very still, and almost meek. 

He froze like a deer in the headlights the moment they had reached the road. 

Luke draped an arm across his shoulders. “Sorry, I forgot... this is...” He sighed. “Look, _cars_ are nothing to be scared of. They are... like carts, only they do not need an animal to pull them.”  
Iolaus couldn’t have looked any more confused. Or scared.  
“Just... believe me. No magic creatures. Just... _machines_.”  
“Ma... sheens??”

Luke took a deep breath. “Oh god,” he muttered. “This is going to be hard.”  
Iolaus looked unhappily at his feet.

They reached Luke’s car somewhat later, and Luke reached into the pocket of his jacket, which was still wrapped around Iolaus who was freezing despite it, took his key and unlocked the car. He opened the passenger door and asked Iolaus to sit down. 

Iolaus did so, but he looked as if he was sitting in the open mouth of a hungry crocodile. He tensed when Luke fastened his seatbelt, and managed a watery smile when Luke explained to him that they both had to do it. 

Luke started the engine and Iolaus closed his eyes. His face was white. 

“Hey, Iolaus. There is no reason to be afraid. I steer this thing. It is perfectly safe.”

Iolaus cracked his eyes open, but he snapped them shut again when he saw how fast they were going. 

By the time they had reached Luke’s house, he was drenched in sweat. He stumbled out of the car and wrapped himself tightly into Luke’s jacket as he hurried after him into the house. 

“Sit down,” Luke said. “I will be back in a bit, I have to buy some food. I just thought you would like to take it slow for now.”

Iolaus nodded without opening his eyes.

“I make it quick,” Luke said and left again. 

It took Iolaus a while until he was able to uncurl, and then he sat up with a heavy groan. 

He was sitting on a thickly padded bench. Before him was a table. Two thickly padded chairs were opposite him. Just furniture. Lavish and rich, but just furniture. Exhaling a heavy breath with puffed cheeks, he dropped the jacket and had another look around. 

Windows with real glass. Luke had to be a really wealthy man. 

And with his curiosity getting the better of him, he got up and had a cautious look around. There was a shelf full of books. A whole shelf just filled with books.

He cautiously peeked into one room and saw a bed. A large bed. Well, that was good. One door was the entrance door, and the small hallway outside lead to the stairs. There was another door, and Iolaus opened that. It was the bathroom, as he had hoped, because he really, really needed that right now.

Coming back into the living area Iolaus had another good look around. Having made it here without pissing himself in fear he was now more than curious about how this world seemed to work. 

The next room, the one opposite the bedroom, puzzled him beyond words.

Several white cabinets, on the ground and mounted on the walls. And a large, white closet. A table with two chairs. 

There was a metal bowl set into the surface of one of the cabinets, but it had the same contraption mounted above it as the _sink_ in the bathroom, so he assumed that there was water coming out of that too. He checked, and, proud of himself, even remembered to turn the water off again. Next too the – well, it would be a _sink_ too, wouldn’t it? – was a large, rectangular metal board with four black discs. Each had a red dot in the centre and he didn’t dare to touch them. 

He continued to puzzle over all those strange things. A glass jug mounted into a strange apparatus of three rectangles, one at the bottom, one at the top, and one at the side, made from a white material he had never seen before. Next to that was a jug, made of the same stuff, but it was tied to the wall with a small rope. 

His stomach growled, and he sighed and wondered how long it would be until Luke would come back. He was also thirsty, so he eyed the jug and bit his lips. As closed his fingers around the handle he accidentally touched a small switch, and quickly let go again. The jug began to whoosh and Iolaus backed away, with his hands extended and his eyes wide.

“No,” he said. “Nonononono, I didn’t mean it. Stop... please... stop!”

The jug continued to whoosh, and suddenly fell silent with a clack.

Iolaus froze, tilted his head, narrowed his eyes, and cautiously stepped closer again. He nudged the jug with a finger and jerked it away again. It was hot. He saw a lid now, and as he very, very cautiously opened it, he saw water inside. But that water was almost boiling.

A jug that makes water hot? He stepped back and shook his head.

Nothing else happened. Emboldened, Iolaus cautiously opened a few cabinet doors and drawers. He found cutlery – spoons and blunt knifes and strange things that looked like tiny tridents – and dinner ware, and cups and glasses. 

“Glasses? For drinking?” He took one out, handling it cautiously and with awe. Luke had to be the wealthiest man in the city. He had a whole shelf full of books and glass windows and glasses to drink out of and a magical jug that boiled water.

He put the glass down again and opened another door. He couldn’t even begin to fathom the items in there. Colourful boxes and lidded jugs, all of them had writing on them that Iolaus could never hope to understand. He didn’t even dare to touch them. 

There was a large box mounted to the wall as well, with a few square buttons and something that looked like a sundial. The front was made of darkened glass, but there was no handle. Iolaus was sure he would never be able to guess its purpose.

At last, he eyed the large, white closet. The door was partitioned, a larger part at the top and a smaller at the bottom. The upper door was heavy and not as easy to open as the others had been. It was cool inside the closet. Almost cold. 

A jug that boiled water and a closet that was cold. Iolaus shook his head and looked into the closet again.

A few small bottles and glasses. Glass again! He took one of those, and discovered with delight it had a picture of strawberries on it. But he couldn’t pull off the lid, no matter how hard he tried. Disappointed, he put the glass back and closed the door. 

Then he tried the lower door that turned out even heavier. This one was really cold inside; it was so cold his breath fogged as he leaned closer.

And then he finally found an item he recognised.

“Sausages!” He reached for them, but they were in a glass box. With a frown he touched that, but it was soft and gave way under his touch. 

“I’m still dreaming and some god is playing a prank on me.” He looked around. “You had a good laugh, can I please wake up now?”

Nothing happened. With a shrug, Iolaus took the sausages and put them on the table. Unsurprisingly, they were cold as well. 

Who in the name of Zeus would eat sausages that were this cold?

Then he narrowed his eyes and eyed the jug that had boiled the water. But just as he contemplated if he could use that to warm the sausages, because he couldn’t find a fireplace in here, he heard the door. 

Luke came into the kitchen carrying two rustling bags. Then he frowned. “Why is the _freezer_ open?”  
“Uh...” Iolaus said with a helpless, embarrassed grin. “I was hungry and looked for food, and then I found this cold closet, and I found sausages, but they are cold and wrapped in glass parchment.”  
“In what?” Luke blinked in utter confusion as he closed the _freezer_ again.  
“Glass parchment,” Iolaus said again and prodded the sausages.

“Oh god...” Luke chuckled. “You mean the _plastic_ packaging.”  
“The what?”  
“ _Plastic_. It is the name of the material.”  
“Oh.”

Luke chuckled again with a fond smile and shook his head. “This is complicated, hm?”  
“Very much so,” Iolaus replied with an unhappy smile. 

He watched for a while as Luke unpacked some items. 

“I had no idea you were such a wealthy man,” he said then.  
Luke froze and slowly, turned his head to look at him. “Wealthy? Me?”  
“You have glass windows!” Iolaus gestured at the window above him. “Real glass! And glasses to drink out! And a whole shelf full of books! And a magical jug that boils water!”

Luke looked at the jug and back at Iolaus. Iolaus stepped back.

“I didn’t do it on purpose! I was just... I just wanted some water! I touched it and it started to boil, I didn’t do it...”  
“Iolaus.” Luke walked across the room and pulled him into an embrace. “It is fine. Everything is fine. I am not angry, just confused.”  
“Not half as confused as I am,” Iolaus muttered into his shoulder.

Luke dropped a kiss onto his head and stepped back again. “It has to be hard,” he said. “But sit down, I make us some food. This is too much to take in on an empty stomach.”  
“That is the best thing I heard all day,” Iolaus said and fell into a chair. “But where’s your fireplace”?

Blinking in puzzlement, Luke froze again, then cleared his throat. “This here is the _cooker_ ,” he said and pointed at the metal board with the four black discs. “I cook on this.”  
“On those discs?”  
Luke nodded.  
“Aren’t they a bit small to light a fire on?”

Luke froze again. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then bent down, opened a cabinet and took a large frying pan out. He put that onto the largest disc and turned a small wheel at the front of the cabinet the metal plate rested on. 

“It has to seem like magic to you,” Luke said then as he watched the pan. “I can assure you, it is not. But I have no idea how to explain all this technology to you.”

Iolaus shrugged and crossed his arms, then he watched Luke as he took items out of the bag. He saw eggs, and was able to smile when Luke took the sausages to carry them over to the _cooker_. He recognised the sizzling of eggs in a hot pan, but there was no fire. If that wasn’t magic, then what was?

Luke quickly put cutlery and dinnerware onto the table, and presented Iolaus with fried eggs and sausages, and with square bread in slices. 

“Do you want _coffee_ with that?”  
“What’s that?”

Luke dragged a hand down his face. “Sorry,” he said. “It is a drink, a hot drink, and you make it out of roasted beans that come from Arabia and Africa.”  
“Beans??”  
“They are not beans, they are seeds, but they look like beans, hence the name.”  
“Ah.” Iolaus cleared his throat. “Do you like cof..”  
“ _Coffee_? Yes, I love it.”  
“Then I’ll try it!”

Iolaus watched Luke and now he was totally lost. Luke took the glass jug from the contraption, filled it with water and poured that into the top square. Then he took one of the jars out of the cabinet before him and opened that. He also took a small bag of parchment that he put into another square of the contraption, and into that he measured a few spoonful of brown powder out of the colourful jug. 

He pressed a small square that began to shine red. 

Somewhat later, the contraption began to whoosh and gurgle. And then a dark liquid began to trickle into the glass jug. 

Iolaus looked around and closed his eyes. This world was unfathomable. 

Luke showed him how to use one of the tiny tridents – a _fork_ – for eating, and Iolaus had to admit those were really handy.

They ate while the contraption gurgled and whooshed and gargled. But at least this was something he was familiar with. Sausages, egg and bread.

Somewhat later Luke got up, poured some of the black liquid into two cups and put one cup down in front of him.

“Careful, it is hot.”  
Iolaus nodded, but he had to admit it smelled really good.

When Luke took a sip, he tried one as well, and almost spat it out again.

“How can you?” He asked, face distorted with disgust. “How can you like something that is so bitter?”  
Luke chuckled. “It is an acquired taste.”  
“I don’t have to acquire this one, thank you very much.” He pushed the cup away.

After they had finished eating, Luke carried all the dishes and cutlery back and opened another cabinet, with two drawers made from wire. He put all the dirty things and the pan inside. Iolaus didn’t want to ask anymore.

Instead, he got up and looked out of the window. _Cars_ -things raced past outside. People dressed in strange ways and dull colours. They didn’t greet each other and all of them seemed to be in a real hurry. He looked up, but he could hardly see any sky. 

Then he yelped in fear and jumped away from the window.

“Iolaus?” Luke was at his side in an instant and threw both arms around him.  
“There is a huge metal bird flying around outside!”  
Luke took a deep breath. “That is a _plane_ ,” he said. “It is something like a... a car. Another _machine_. There are a lot of people inside, and you can travel across the world in these.”

Iolaus stopped shaking and buried his face into Luke’s shoulder.

“You...” Luke sighed and ran a hand through Iolaus’ hair. “This world is kind of scary, hm?”  
“I’m not scared,” Iolaus muttered.  
Luke remained silent, but held him until Iolaus was ready to let go. 

They settled down on the padded bench again – a _sofa_ , as he was informed – and Luke tried to explain a few things to him, starting with things Iolaus knew, and how people had ideas what else to do and how to make things better. Iolaus got lost quickly, and ended up staring straight ahead with his hands clamped between his knees.

“I have the feeling you regret coming here,” Luke said softly.  
“No!” Iolaus looked up at him. “I wanted to be with you!”  
“But you cannot really handle this world.”  
“I will learn how to do that! It’s fine!”  
“Iolaus...” Luke sighed. “You can lie to yourself, but do not lie to me. You regret coming here.”

Iolaus sighed and closed his eyes. “These things...” he said eventually in a very small voice. “This world... it kind of terrifies me.”  
Luke closed his arms around him. “I am sorry,” he muttered.  
“It’s my own fault now, isn’t it?”

Luke said nothing, but after a moment he let go. “I do not know if and how I can help you,” he said. “But I know how to comfort you. For a moment, at least.” He held out a hand to him and smiled. “Come to bed with me?”

Iolaus managed a small smile and took the offered hand. The bed was huge, and incredibly comfortable, but the most comfortable sensation was Luke’s embrace. He was indeed able to forget about this terrifying world for a while.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WinterFRE2017 - Prompt 97: “You can’t go on like this. You’re not eating, you’re not sleeping, and you barely talk.”

The next morning, Luke made breakfast again and Iolaus tried to tell himself that it didn’t matter what Luke did to prepare the food. It didn’t make a difference if this _cooker_ thing was a piece of technology or magic, did it? The food turned out fine either way, so Luke knew what he was doing. 

It was still somewhat scary to see things sizzle in a pan and water boil without the trace of a flame. 

Well... he would have to get used to that. 

After breakfast, Luke told him they would have to go and buy some clothes. 

“That’s going to be a lot of money, right?” Iolaus asked.  
Luke nodded with tight lips.  
“I have money!” He produced his pouch, but then his smile vanished. “It’s not going to be of any use here, is it?”  
Luke shook his head, but then his face lit up. “I have an idea,” he said. “Come on.”

Iolaus hesitated and cleared his throat. “Is that going to involve your _cars_ -thing?”  
Luke draped an arm around his shoulders. “Yes,” he said. “But believe me, they are not dangerous. Everyone has one.”

Iolaus nodded, but he was unconvinced these _cars_ -things were as safe as Luke said. He followed Luke and sat down again with closed eyes. Luke strapped him in and the tightness in his abdomen was in no way related to that belt around his chest.

He kept his eyes shut. Feeling this thing accelerate and slow down and stop was bad enough. 

Eventually the car stopped again and they got out, and Iolaus tried to not let on how weak his knees were. 

They entered a house filled with all sorts of oddities. He saw a few weapons, daggers and swords, but they were oddly shaped. Probably a pawnbroker or a shop for all sorts of strange things. 

Luke asked Iolaus for his pouch, then presented the dinars to an elderly man with a contraption made of wire perched on his nose. They talked for a while, and the elderly man seemed surprised, almost ecstatic. He handed Luke a lot of pieces of paper for the dinars and Luke looked very pleased. 

They had to get into the _cars_ -thing again.

“So... you sold my dinars, then?”  
“Yes,” Luke said with a smile. “A lot of money. This man deals in old things that are very valuable. He was impressed by those old Greek coins that look like new.”  
“A lot of money?” Iolaus was so baffled he forgot to be scared of the vehicle he was strapped into. “It was a few pieces of parchment!”  
“Yes, but one of those pieces has the value of a lot of coins. It saves you the trouble of having to carry so many coins around.”

Iolaus nodded, because this was something he could understand. He closed his eyes again and tried not to think about how fast they were going.

Then, suddenly, they entered darkness and Iolaus’ eyes flew open. It wasn’t completely dark though; there were strange, orange lights above them. Eventually Luke stopped the _cars_ -thing and they got out, and Iolaus looked around in this weird, rectangular cave. There were lots of other _cars_ -things, and they all looked different.

“Follow me,” Luke said and Iolaus didn’t waste a second. 

They walked towards a wall with several square doors, but then Luke turned around and smiled crookedly. 

“I think we take the stairs for now,” he said. 

Iolaus nodded and didn’t want to ask what the alternative would have been. 

So they ascended the stairs, until they had reached a... Iolaus had no word for this place. It was encased by glass doors that opened on their own as they walked towards them. They were surrounded by shelves. Rows upon rows of shelves. 

It was a huge room, that much was clear, and it was filled with shelves with all sorts of items. Lidded glasses, round metal containers, square containers. Some had images of food on them Iolaus could recognise. Maybe this was a market of some sort?

They walked past dozens of shelves until finally, at the end of this strange market hall, they reached a cluster of shelves with clothes. 

Luke gave him a long, calculating look, and then handed him a few shirts with short arms. Before Iolaus could take off Luke’s jacket and his vest, however, Luke pointed at a curtain. There was a small cubicle behind that, and Luke explained that you changed in those behind the curtains. 

The shirts were soft, and they fit. Luke took three, and then he handed him a few with long arms out of thick material and that had hoods. They fit as well, and those two went onto the stack of things to be bought. Small tubes that were closed at one end that you stuck your feet in. _Socks_ , Luke called them, to keep his feet warm. Nice things. Very nice in this place.

Luke told him his leather trousers and boots were fine, so he got a jacket similar Luke’s, and then Luke also took a few trousers that looked very tight and were very short. According to Luke, that was how male smallclothes looked like here. 

It was a small comfort that Iolaus was able to pay for this with his own money, even if he had no idea how these transactions worked. Luke paid a lady who was sitting at a strange box and pulled the things past another box that beeped. Iolaus didn’t ask. 

They left through another door, and at first, Iolaus thought they had stepped outside, but then he discovered that there was a huge glass dome above them. And a lot of doors into rooms behind glass. They all had things behind that glass. Wares on display? A lot of these things were clothes.

A huge, immensely huge house full of shops.

And there were people. So many people. Milling around, past each other, bumping into each other and no one looked at each other. A lot of them looked at a small rectangular plate of glass in their hands. 

Luke walked purposefully, and eventually they reached one of those shops with glass windows but without wares, only tables and chairs. They settled down there, and a friendly lady came over and asked them something. Luke answered, and she nodded and vanished. She came back somewhat later with two cups. 

“Is that... coff...fee?”  
“Mine is,” Luke said with a smile. “Yours is not.”   
Iolaus eyed his cup. The liquid was warm as well, and of a light brown colour. It looked like milk with dirt.  
“Try it.”  
Iolaus gave Luke a doubtful look, but then he took a deep breath and dared a tiny sip. 

Sweet blessing of Demeter, this was fit for the gods. He closed his eyes in bliss while Luke chuckled and took a sip of his disgusting black brew.

“I don’t understand,” Iolaus said. “How can you willingly drink that vile stuff when you can have this?”  
Luke shrugged. “I like it,” he said. 

Well, that was all there was to it.

They headed home afterwards. Iolaus asked on their way if Luke could buy more of that drink, and Luke chuckled and said he could do even better than that. They stopped underway at a place that was a shop, but it had also strange, square pillars with ropes outside under a roof. 

Luke came back with a bag and smiled, then they headed home.

What Luke had bought were small, rectangular flat plates wrapped in coloured parchment. Unwrapped, they were brown and looked rather unimpressive. 

Then Iolaus tried a bite and decided that this was better than orgasms. 

“ _Chocolate_ ,” Luke said with a chuckle.

Iolaus was too lost in bliss to reply.

* * *

Now that he had clothes, Iolaus looked like anyone else here, but he didn’t give in to any illusion that he would ever be one of these people. 

He occasionally accompanied Luke when he went out to buy things they needed, but he had quickly given up on greeting people or even smile at them. If they looked at him at all, their looks were hostile. 

Plus, he didn’t speak the language. Luke tried to teach him, but so far he had only managed a few very basic phrases. Yes, no, hello, good morning, please, thank you, good bye. Not enough to get along in this world on his own.

This world was just so full of strange things. Luke had a large rectangle of glass on the wall, and in it, pictures came to life. He had a box that made noise. Luke called it music. Iolaus begged to differ.

And the food was weird as well. Some things were amazing, _pizza_ for example, _chocolate_ and some other things. Like these yellow roundish things. Poe...tah...toes. You could boil them, or mash them, or put them in a stew, but the best thing was cutting them into sticks and frying those in oil.

A lot of other things were inedible or boring. Luke tried to buy food he knew, olives and feta, but both tasted so bland he might as well have stuck his tongue out of the window. 

Sometimes, Luke would be gone. He had to talk to people. Sometimes he worked in his shop. Sometimes he was gone for most of the day. 

Iolaus watched moving pictures, but they made no sense to him. He looked out of the window, and could only see bricks. He was beginning to feel trapped in here and decided he would have to brave the outside world.

So one day after Luke had left, he left as well. He walked down the road, but quickly gave up again on smiling at people. Luke had explained to him that he couldn’t just walk across the roads, so he waited with other people without looking at them, and walked when they walked. Apparently, _cars_ -things were more important than people on these roads. 

But no matter how long he walked, there were houses. Stone. Bricks. Black roads of solid stone. Walls. Everything was grey and dark, and there was nothing green. 

He passed a large house with a tower, and for some reason it felt like a temple to him. It was surrounded by a bit of greenery and trees, but there were also slabs of stone in rows that were clearly grave markers. Iolaus passed them by but looked at the trees in longing. 

It was not really warm here and he froze, even though he was dressed in the things Luke had bought him. He was also beginning to get hungry, but he was unable to buy food without speaking the language. So he decided to go back. 

He turned around and felt something cold grip his guts. Everything looked the same here. All the houses looked the same. All the streets looked the same. 

He was lost, lost in a place where he couldn’t even ask anyone. Back home he would have asked people for Luke, tall and dark-haired with a greying streak on his forehead. Around here, chances were no one had even heard of him.

Iolaus realised that he was afraid. He was lost. He wasn’t able to find back, and in this huge place full of streets that all looked the same, Luke wouldn’t be able to find him. 

It was getting dark. Iolaus walked, in the direction he felt he had come from, and tried to recognise some houses or shops, but it was hopeless. 

Then he took a wrong turn and ended up in a darker side alley, but as he turned around, he faced three very aggressive looking men. He didn’t understand what they said, but was in no doubt that they were hostile. He could only shrug, and that made them angry. They came closer, crowded him, and talked, gesturing at him to hand something over.

Thugs. Robbers. But he didn’t have anything. He had spent almost all his money on clothes, and what was left was back in Luke’s house, so he turned his pockets inside out to show them that trying to rob him was pointless. But that made them even angrier. 

Iolaus looked hastily around for an escape, a way out of here. He had a wall behind him, but there were a few large metal boxes. They smelled bad, of rot and dirt, but they would do the job. 

Iolaus took a step back. The robbers followed. 

Then he turned around and ran. He hopped onto one of the containers and onto the narrow wall where he had to fight for his balance for a moment. Behind him the thugs shouted in anger, but they weren’t fast enough. By the time they had reached the containers and were clumsily trying to climb onto them, Iolaus had found his balance again and ran along the wall and away from them. At least his training at the academy was good for something here. 

He quickly climbed onto the nearest roof, ran along the roof ridge, jumped down onto the next roof that was lower and from there into a back yard enclosed in walls. He swung himself up and over the wall, into another back yard, and over another wall. Then he encountered a wall that was much higher, and he jumped, gripped the edge and chinned himself up until he could mount the wall. Below him was another road now, and more people. He waited until the people were gone and hopped down. 

Then he leaned against the wall and waited for his heartbeat to slow down. 

He was lost. 

Totally and completely lost.

There was no chance anymore that he could even guess which way he had come from. Darkness had fallen, but even though the people in this place never slept there was no one who could help him. Iolaus walked, but at one point he passed a bench, and just fell down and gave up. He doubled over and fought his tears, but it was of no use. He would never find back, and he would die here, in this cold and hostile place. 

He didn’t hear it and he didn’t see it, but suddenly there was a large, very large dog sitting in front of him. For one crazy moment he wanted to believe it was Luke, but the dog’s fur was of a light brown colour. Luke had shown him his wolf form once, and his fur was black. 

And yet, it looked at him with very intelligent eyes and Iolaus realised that it didn’t look like a dog at all. Then it nudged Iolaus’ leg with its muzzle. Hope sparked up in him, and he got up.

The wolf trotted away, and Iolaus followed. 

Now that he was accompanied by a large, massive canine, people skirted well around him. It was a relief not to keep on bumping into other people all the time.

They walked for quite a while, and even though Iolaus was hungry and tired, he kept on following the wolf with fast steps. 

The roads weren’t as broad here anymore, and there were less _cars_ -things driving around here. Iolaus had a look around, but he was as lost here as he had been before the wolf had found him. Then his canine companion took another turn and headed purposefully towards a large building with a glass front. There was a glass door, and four men were looking at him through the windows. 

Iolaus’ heart sank. He wasn’t even afraid anymore. 

One of the men opened the door to let the wolf slip inside, then he waved at Iolaus. Iolaus hesitated, but then the man lifted one hand in a gesture of peace. 

“Iolaus?” He asked. 

Iolaus could have cried in relief. He nodded and the man waved him inside. As he stepped in, another of the men was holding one of the rectangular glass plates to his ear. Iolaus could hear him talk, and even though he couldn’t understand anything else, there was this one word he knew. It was Luke’s name. 

He was offered a chair and sat down at a small, wobbly white table. Someone put a cup without handle in front of him, filled with that vicious disgusting brew that everyone around here liked so much. Iolaus grimaced and gently pushed the cup away. 

“Thank you,” he said. “No thank you.”

Someone patted his shoulder, and he was left alone. The men behind him talked in low voices, but they could have hollered at each other like Cyclopes and Iolaus wouldn’t have understood anything. 

Iolaus couldn’t say how long he had been sitting there when he suddenly heard the sound of a _cars_ -thing. It was roaring, and it came to a halt with a screech. He recognised it before the man inside jumped out, and he shot out of his chair so fast it toppled over. 

“Luke!”

“Is he here?” Luke stormed through the door and didn’t stop running before he had his arms clamped around Iolaus like a vice. 

“Iolaus!” He pressed him even closer. “[ _Iolaus, thank god we found you_ ]!”

His relief was too overwhelming by now and Iolaus couldn’t hold back his tears. 

“[ _Calm now_ ],” Luke said softly. “[ _Calm down, we found you. Everything is going to be all right_ ].”

Iolaus did what he could to pull himself together again, and eventually, he was able to loosen the death grip he had on Luke’s arms. Luke ran a hand down his face and then turned towards the men. He talked to them at length, and Iolaus could hear the words ‘thank you’ a lot of times. 

As they were about to leave, Iolaus turned around again and inclined his head at the men. “Thank you,” he said as well. “Thank you much.”

The men smiled and waved, and Iolaus managed to smile as he waved back. 

As they headed towards the car, three more large wolves rounded the corner. Luke spoke to them as well and thanked them too. They vanished through the glass door as Luke and Iolaus got into Luke’s vehicle.

Iolaus would never have thought he’d be so happy to be strapped into this seat.

“That was my pack,” Luke explained. “I told you about that, right?”  
Iolaus nodded. “How did they find me?”  
“I took the T-shirt you slept in during the last two nights with me. Then they changed and let the canine senses do their job. I stayed home in case you would make it there after all.”

Staring straight ahead, Iolaus nodded again. “I’m sorry,” he said, and didn’t bother trying to hide the tear that rolled down his cheek. “I just wanted to... to get some air. To see something other than stone.”  
Luke sighed and rested his hand on Iolaus’ thigh for a moment. “I am sorry you feel so trapped here.”

Iolaus could only shrug.

* * *

From that day on, Iolaus didn’t dare to leave the house anymore. He accompanied Luke a few times, but he clung to him almost like a child. 

Luke asked him to get into the car one day and they drove for hours, and they eventually left the houses behind. The huge houses, that is. There were still houses, but those were normal houses. There were a few trees. There was also a bit more sky. 

But it was still cold, and the sky was still grey. There were no cypress trees and no cicadas, no warm sunshine with the smell of myrtle in the breeze.

Luke quickly realized that it didn’t help and they headed home again. 

On their way home they stopped at another shop and Luke silenced the car and got out. He came back somewhat later with two of those flat boxes that meant _pizza_ , but Iolaus discovered he wasn’t really hungry. After sitting down next to him Luke looked at him with a worried frown, but Iolaus could only shrug.

“Iolaus,” Luke said gently after they had come home. “Maybe we should...” He hesitated. “Do you think we should ask Stacey to find a way for you to go back home?”  
“I want to stay with you!” Iolaus closed his arms around him and closed his eyes. “I want to be with you, Luke.”  
Luke kissed the top of his head. “But you are not happy here.”  
“But I have you.”

Luke let the matter drop and they went to bed.

Iolaus couldn’t sleep that night and left the bed so at least Luke could sleep and settled down on the sofa. He was still there staring out of the window when Luke got up. With a sigh, Luke walked past him into the bathroom, and then went into the kitchen to make breakfast. 

Again, Iolaus forced some food down because he wasn’t hungry. 

Luke left somewhat later, and Iolaus remained in the house, sitting on the _sofa_ and staring at the walls. At one point he realised that his fingers hurt, and when he looked at his hands he saw that he had bitten off his nails so deep that some of them were bleeding. He got up and stared out of the window. 

A seagull swooped past overhead. It vanished behind a blur before it flew out of sight. 

Iolaus fell down onto the sofa again, took off his bracelet and stared at his wrists. The skin was rough and webbed, scars of the manacles that would stay with him for the rest of his life. He had been chained by iron. He was as trapped here, without anything that bound him. 

He was still staring at his hands when Luke came home.

* * *

The days blurred into each other. Walls and windows and moving pictures. Iolaus was always tired but couldn’t sleep. He wasn’t hungry, and his trousers began to sit very loose on his hips. 

He spent most of his time at the window waiting for another seagull.

* * *

Iolaus couldn’t say how much time had passed, how many days or weeks, and he realised he didn’t even care. 

It was just one of those days, grey and cold, that Luke came home at night, and he sat down on the sofa and took one of Iolaus’ hands. 

“Iolaus,” he said gently. “You cannot go on like this. You are not eating, you are not sleeping, and you barely talk.”  
Iolaus looked up at him. “And what should I do instead?”  
Luke sighed and his voice was rough. “We have to go to the Institute. We have to ask Stacey to send you home.”  
“But...” Iolaus swallowed hard. “I don’t... I want to be with you!”

“Yes,” Luke replied and ran his hands through a few strands of Iolaus’ hair. “And I want to be with you. But this... you cannot go on like this. We cannot go on. This is slowly but surely killing you.” He leaned forward and placed a kiss onto Iolaus’ forehead. “We have to get you home.”  
Iolaus stared at him, tears in his eyes. “I don’t want to go home! I want to stay here with you!”

“No.” Luke ran a finger down Iolaus’ cheek. “You want to stay with me, but you can’t stay here, in this place. You’re homesick. You’re so homesick it breaks my heart. You want to be with me, but it is not enough. I am the only thing here that you want, the only person who can talk to you. And that is simply not enough.”  
“But I love you,” Iolaus said in a trembling voice.  
“And I love you,” Luke replied gently. “But you hate this world, and it terrifies you.”

Iolaus looked up at him, fruitlessly trying to blink his tears away. Luke lowered his face to kiss his forehead again, and when he leaned back, his eyes were filled with tears as well.

“You are dying inside,” he whispered. “And I can do nothing. I know... I do not belong there. But you do not belong here. You have me, but I am the only thing you have. It is not enough. You will never be happy here, not even content. It is not enough.”  
“But you are...”  
“Iolaus,” Luke said softly, but in a rough voice. “When was the last time we made love?”

Iolaus realised with a cold shiver of shock that he couldn’t remember.

Luke pulled him close and kissed the top of his head. “You need to go home.”  
Iolaus almost choked on the word. “Yes,” he whispered and was in tears.

* * *

Luke and Stacey had had a heart to heart, accompanied by the others, and in the end, after a set of apologies, had made peace with each other. They would never be able to get along, but they were able to work together now. Luke hadn’t wanted to just abandon the Shadowhunters, but it was more for Clary’s sake whom he loved like a daughter.

And now Stacey listened to Luke with crossed arms, and after he had finished she sighed with a shake of her head. Then she looked at Iolaus, his gaunt face, the tired eyes, the bulge of his trousers around his hips that were too wide and only held in place by his belt.

“I don’t want to say no,” she said. “But I can’t just do what I did when I sent you. I had the artefact as a focus.”

Stacey closed her eyes with a frown, then walked across the room towards a table on which a large bowl was resting. It contained a faint shimmer of light inside that looked like reflections of water. She sighed again and touched the rim of the bowl. 

“I could send him there,” she said. “Let his mind create the focus. But he is untrained and... It is dangerous.”  
“Can’t you help him focus?”  
Stacey looked at Luke again. “No, because I can’t crawl into his mind.” She shook her head. “There are ways to do that, but I have not studied those, and I’d rather not know. I don’t want to be in someone else’s mind, for whatever reason. And even if I was a master at that, it would still be dangerous. But I can’t, so that’s that.”

Luke sighed and looked at Iolaus who was looking at a glass display case containing some weapons. 

Stacey stared at the bowl again. 

“This is what you were there for. With this bowl we can harness the power of the gateways in a different way. It makes travelling through time and space that much easier, and you don’t need a gateway for it. But I really don’t want to risk just sending a human being through all that distance without having control about where exactly he lands.”  
“Like... inside a wall?”

Stacey turned around and looked at Iolaus again. Then she narrowed her eyes and tapped her chin.

“I need something down there as a focus, then it wouldn’t be a problem.”  
“What exactly would that have to be?”  
“Any item that belongs there,” she said. “Anything he had on him when he came here.”  
“So... you use one of the things he had with him and send it... ahead?”  
“I could.” Stacey looked back at Luke. “No guarantee it ends up where it’s supposed to be, but with a bit of luck it does. And once we know it’s safe, we can send him after it.”

Luke took a deep breath and nodded.

“You’re going to miss him, hm?”  
“Like hell, yes.” Luke swallowed. “But it is better that way. He is like a wild animal that has been caged in a zoo. He’s just... withering away.”  
“But you love him?” It was spoken surprisingly gentle.  
“Yes.” Luke looked at her and nodded. “I love him. And that’s why I have to send him home. I can’t watch him die a little more with every single day.”

Stacey nodded and rolled her shoulders. “Tell him what I talked about. I draw the circle and then we hope for the best.”

It didn’t take Stacey long to finish drawing the circle and the runes along the edge. She now used the bowl and a small, soft brush, and dipping the brush into the bowl, drew each rune again, pale blue light on black ink. She left a gap to put Iolaus’ pouch into the circle before she drew the last rune.

During that time, Luke and Iolaus had stood in a corner, arms around each other and holding on desperately to each other. They didn’t pay any attention to the things Stacey did, not until she called out to them. 

“Luke. It’s time.”

Hand in hand the two now walked towards the circle. In the centre was a small patch that seemed like a window, but all they could see was earth and a few low shrubs that couldn’t be larger than dandelions, to judge by Iolaus’ pouch that was lying next to them. 

“I can’t say where exactly this is, but it is in Greece, and it is in his time,” Stacey said. “And it looks like a safe place to land.”

Luke could only nod. 

Stacey stepped around the circle and erased one of the runes. “He has to step inside,” she said.

Iolaus turned to Luke and the two stared at each other through their tears. 

“[ _I am sorry_ ],” Luke whispered and cradled Iolaus’ face in his hands. “[ _But it just was not meant to be_ ].”  
“[ _I know_ ],” Iolaus whispered. “[ _I should have let you go but I wanted... I wanted something that wasn’t mine to have_ ].”  
“[ _But I had you in my life for a very short but beautiful time_ ],” Luke added, his eyes glistening. “[ _And for that I will never be sorry_ ].”  
Iolaus was able to give him a small and sad, wistful smile. “[ _Neither will I_ ].”

Luke kissed his forehead, and then he pulled him close into a kiss. For a while they just felt each other, and a kiss that tasted of salt, yet again. Then they let go and Iolaus wiped a hand across his face as he stepped back. 

“[ _Don’t forget me_ ],” he said.  
“[ _As if I ever could_ ],” Luke replied and wiped a hand across his cheek. 

Iolaus stepped into the circle, tears still flowing. 

But they both knew they couldn’t go on like this.

Stacey now stepped between them and drew the last rune that closed the circle. 

“[ _Farewell_ ],” Iolaus whispered.  
“[ _Farewell_ ],” Luke whispered back. 

Stacey closed her eyes and set the final mark to the last rune. The circle began to glow. 

A moment later, Iolaus was gone. 

Luke turned around and stormed out of the room without a word, and Stacey shook her head with a sigh before she started cleaning the runes off the floor.

* * *

Iolaus landed rather painfully face-down on hard-baked earth, and he turned onto his back with a grown. A bright sun burned into his eyes and he quickly rolled onto his stomach again. 

There was his empty pouch, right in front of his nose. Apparently, Stacey had a good aim. 

He grabbed his pouch and sat up, then he stared at it with a lump forming in his throat. Moments later his vision blurred, and he dropped his head with a helpless sob. He let his tears flow because there was no point in trying to stop them, but eventually he was able to lift his head and look around. 

He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the building next to him. 

It was Carra’s inn.

Iolaus staggered to his feet and looked around in disbelief while the tears were still drying on his face. 

He could hear voices coming from the inn. He could understand what they said. They were talking about good food and going back to the academy for the night.

He knew those voices.

It was a different kind of tears now as he shot around the corner of the building.

“Herc?”

Hercules stumbled over his own feet as he stopped and spun around.

“Iolaus?”

Iolaus smiled at him, wiped his tears away, and Jason and Hercules came running and just toppled him over. All three of them rolled around on the ground, both Hercules and Jason trying to hug him simultaneously, and they were laughing and crying tears of joy. 

Eventually they untangled themselves and got up, and as they dusted themselves off Jason declared that this called for a celebration, so they headed back into the inn. 

Carra was surprisingly happy to see Iolaus back, and was exceedingly friendly when she brought them food and drinks. Iolaus was in tears of joy about the food, and that had Carra so flustered that their bill that evening ended up being on the house. 

Both Hercules and Jason had an arm around Iolaus who walked between them as they headed back towards the academy.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WinterFRE2017 - Prompt 34: Firelight and romance

Iolaus left the building drenched in sweat. They had been working out for hours, and the stuffy heat inside had forced them to take a break. Iolaus reached the well, hauled up a bucket of water and unceremoniously poured it over his head. Then he hauled up another bucket and took the wooden scoop to drink.

Suddenly he had the nagging feeling that someone was watching him. He looked around, but there was no one at the windows, no one on the roof, and no one on the wall. After a moment he shrugged, took the scoop and drank.

* * *

Luke leaned back from the crystal ball, wiping his eyes, watched intensely by Magnus who had the ball between his hands without touching it. 

Iolaus looked around again with a distrustful frown, but then he dropped the ladle and stepped away from the well to let someone else take the bucket. 

The image wavered and vanished. 

“Thank you,” Luke muttered. “Thank you for this. What do I owe you?”

Magnus sighed and looked up at the others, Clary, Jace, Alec and Isabelle, who had accompanied Luke here. It had been Clary’s idea to ask the warlock for a glimpse across time and space to make sure Iolaus was okay. His eyes rested on Alec and he sighed.

“Nothing,” Magnus said then and covered the crystal ball with a cloth of black silk. “But I won’t do this every other week or so.”  
“No,” Luke said in a low voice. “I just wanted to make sure he is okay, and he is. He’s home, he’s safe, he has his place and his friends. That’s all that matters.” Then he got up. “Thank you.”

Magnus nodded and watched them leave. Alec fell back though, and the others waited at the entrance for him. They didn’t have to wait for long, but when Alec showed up he had the slightly dazed eyes of someone not quite in this world. His sister elbowed him in the ribs and he blinked and gave her a sheepish grin. 

They parted ways; the young Shadowhunters went back to the Institute, and Luke went back home. 

Iolaus hadn’t been gone for two weeks, but Luke felt like it had been months. There was a huge hole in his life now, but no matter how much it hurt, it was better like this. He hadn’t seen him smile in god knows how long, but seeing him today, as he had left the building, there had been that smile that Luke had found so irresistible back then. 

He was happy again. And Luke hoped that Iolaus would get over all this as soon as possible. He honestly did. He didn’t want Iolaus to forget him, but he wanted to be no more than a fond memory. He wanted Iolaus to be happy, and he would never have been happy here.

Luke entered the bedroom with a sigh. He hadn’t changed the sheets since Iolaus had left, but now he tore the sheets off, the duvet covers and the pillow cases the pillow cases, and threw everything into the washing machine. He was tempted to throw the clothes out that no one would need anymore, but then decided to wash them and give them to a second hand shop. 

He washed them, and folded them, and stored them in a bag at the bottom of his wardrobe. He reminded himself every week to carry them to the thrift shop down the road next Saturday. He never did.

* * *

Iolaus had needed some time to adjust back to this world, but no more than two weeks. 

Chairon had welcomed him back, a little cautiously, but friendly. 

_The centaur looked at him and crossed his arms, but he didn’t look hostile._

_“So you are back,” he said._   
_“Yes,” Iolaus replied. “He didn’t belong here, but I didn’t belong there either. It wasn’t meant to be.”_   
_“It is not an easy fate to bear.”_

_Iolaus shrugged and looked up at his former teacher and mentor._

_“Will you take me back?”_

_Chairon dropped his arms, then he stepped aside and held out his arm, his hand pointing at the door._

_Iolaus was able to smile as he stepped past him._

By now, everything was like it had been before. Or almost everything. 

There were the dreams. It wasn’t that he woke up screaming, but quite often Iolaus woke up and his back and arms hurt and he felt trapped, and it took him a moment to remember that he could actually move his hands farther apart than a few inches. There were also dreams of walls, impossibly high walls, stones and bricks, trapping him as effectively as any chains ever could.

Waking up from such a dream always left him restless, and he left the quarters to take a few deep breaths outside. He would usually sit up on a wall and watch the stars. There had been no stars back in the other world. Not between those huge, soulless houses. Luke had told him that there were stars, the same stars that he knew, but they had never been visible.

He still missed him, and he would for a long time. Maybe it would never completely go away. Iolaus looked up at the Milky Way and sighed, wondering if Luke was maybe thinking about him right now. He missed him so much it hurt sometimes, but that world had been killing him. It was better like this. 

After wiping his eyes Iolaus hopped down from the wall and hooked his thumbs into his belt. He felt strangely awake and didn’t want to go back into the dorm because he didn’t want to risk waking the others, so he left the compound and walked past the houses and up the hill into the forest.

The ground was still warm from the heat of the day, the air smelled of rich earth and pine needles, and Iolaus inhaled deeply. The pure fragrance of the nightly forest made his eyes burn and he sat down on the nearest rock. He would give anything to share this moment with Luke, but Luke wasn’t here. He would never see him again. Never touch him again. 

And then he realised something else: He was dead. To Luke, he was dead. He had travelled back a long way in time. Iolaus had been born three thousand years before Luke. He was dead.

He got up from his rock and looked up at the stars again with a cold, painful knot in his guts. “You’ll never change,” he said to them. “Tell him I still love him.”

The stars didn’t answer him. The stars were, most likely, totally indifferent to a mere mortal and his petty mortal wishes. Iolaus shrugged, wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and walked. There was no path, just a small deer track, and he followed it until he had reached the old rotunda.

It had been a shrine to Diana once, but the altar was long gone, the pillars overgrown with moss and vines and the roof cracked and covered with pine needles. The floor was hard earth, not flagstones, and Iolaus sat down there, pulled up his knees and slung his arms around them. 

Here before him, there was only wilderness. The hill wasn’t steep but gently fell down towards the bottom of the valley, and about halfway down the slope the pines gave way to thicker shrubbery. It was so still and silent that he could hear the stream down there against the backdrop of cicadas. 

He felt at peace here. He missed Luke so much it hurt, but he would never have felt like this if he had stayed. 

Iolaus watched the sun rise up over the valley before him, and slowly got up, stretched and walked over the brow of the hill and down again, towards the village and the Academy.

* * *

Iolaus came back often. He found solace in the old, derelict shrine during those nights when he couldn’t find rest, and sometimes he made a fire and stayed the whole night. He would just sit there in the small rotunda looking down into the valley, or staring into the flames, or up at the stars and remember. 

There were only very few things he would have liked to keep, but most of them were of no real consequence, like _pizza_ and _chocolate_ , and water coming out of walls as well as _toilet paper_ were a luxury he missed sometimes. But he would willingly walk a mile every day to reach a well if he wouldn’t have to do so on black stone roads with _cars_ -things racing past, and among people who were uncomfortable or got angry when he greeted them. 

Neither Hercules nor Jason asked him where he went when he vanished for a whole night. They also didn’t ask any more questions about the world where Iolaus had been; the few things he had told them had been unimaginable for them without being able to see them. 

And Iolaus couldn’t blame them. If anyone had told him about metal carts that drove without an animal pulling it, metal birds in the sky, jugs that boiled water and water that came out of the wall – he’d have laughed and walked away. People who owned small, slim rectangles of glass with colourful symbols on, and when these symbols were touched correctly, they could talk with anyone else who had the same device, no matter where in the world they were. Who believed that?

They couldn’t understand. Cold Hades, _he_ couldn’t understand it, and he had been there, had seen those things and even touched a lot of them.

The small rotunda overlooking the lonely valley became his refuge. He stacked some firewood and stored a box of tinder there. He carried a mat of braided rushes with him one night and took a blanket along every time he went there, so he could sit comfortably while watching the stars or the dancing flames.

* * *

The heat of the day and the resulting stifled air in the dorm had Iolaus flee the Academy again that night, and he settled down on his mat in the small rotunda with a sigh. Up here, the air was cooler and breathable. Not that he minded the heat, but the lack of fresh air in the dorm where so many people slept in a closed room bothered him. 

It was close to summer solstice and the nights were short and warm. The sky wasn’t black but a dark, glowing blue, and Iolaus listened to the endless song of the cicadas coming from the valley. 

Summer solstice. He swallowed hard. Close to summer solstice… that meant it was a year ago now that he had managed to escape the chains and the oars. Already a full year. 

He stared down into the valley and sighed. 

The sound of something small dropping to the ground behind him made him spin around, but he couldn’t see anything. He got up and walked around the mat he had been sitting on and suddenly, his eyes fell onto a metallic gleam. Iolaus bent down and picked it up. 

It was a dinar. 

He looked up at the roof of the rotunda with a confused frown and looked back at the coin in his hand. Then he looked at the empty spot before him. 

His heart began to race. He slowly took a step back, his fingers closing around the coin, and he stared at the ground before him with parted lips and his heart racing like mad. 

It didn’t make a sound; there was just a flash of light and he was there, landing on his hands and knees with a grunt.

“Luke,” Iolaus whispered and dropped the coin.   
Luke shook his head with a low growl, then he looked up. “Iolaus,” he said, his voice rough. 

Luke laboured onto his feet and before he had even found his balance, Iolaus had thrown is arms around him. Luke closed his arms around Iolaus and buried his face into the golden hair. 

Neither of the two said a word for a very long time. 

When they finally were able to let go of each other, Luke ran his fingers through Iolaus’ hair and shook his head. Both of them had wet cheeks.

“I missed you so much,” he whispered.  
“I missed you too,” Iolaus whispered back. “But how...”  
“The same way we sent you home,” Luke said softly and caressed Iolaus’ cheek. “But I am not stranded here like you were. I will explain, I will explain everything. Right now, I only want to do one thing.”

Iolaus swallowed, and then he closed his eyes. Their lips met, and after the first, gentle and hesitant touch, they had their arms around each other again. They first parted when they were running out of air. 

Iolaus brushed his hair back and tugged at Luke’s hand. Luke followed him as he sat down, and after another kiss, they both settled down on the mat of rushes and the blanket. They entwined their legs as they kissed, hands roaming up and down arms and each other’s backs. 

The small fire crackled and cast their tangled limbs in flickering hues of orange and gold. 

Their kisses were soft and tender, their hands caressing each other in gentle touches. It were not their bodies that were hungry but their souls, and eventually they held on to each other in a tight embrace. Iolaus had his head resting on Luke’s shoulder, and Luke had turned his head so his cheek was resting against Iolaus’ forehead. 

There was no need for words. They looked into the dancing flames while Luke toyed with a strand of golden hair. 

“How?” Iolaus asked after a long time of watching the logs turn into glowing embers.  
“Do you remember the key I used to open the portal, back then?”  
Iolaus emitted an affirmative hum.  
“The reason I was there, the shard... the bowl that harnesses the powers of the gateways. The meaning of all that was to create artefacts that made travelling so much easier, especially since there are so few gateways.”

He paused to kiss Iolaus’ fingers that were caressing his face.

“She made several of those. And Clary insisted that I should have one.”  
Iolaus licked his lips. “So you can...”  
“Can come and go,” Luke said. 

He reached into his shirt and showed Iolaus a miniature version of the key disc he had used back then, only with an eyelet, and it hung around Luke’s neck from a string.

Iolaus buried his face into Luke’s shoulder. Luke closed his arms around him and they held on to each other for a while. Then Luke placed a gentle kiss onto Iolaus’ forehead and Iolaus lifted his head. 

“Maybe I can talk Stacey into giving me another one,” Luke whispered, running a gentle finger across Iolaus’ cheek and jaw. “Then you could come and visit me too.”  
“Visit you?”  
“Yes.” Luke smiled. “Then we could eat _pizza_ together and _chocolate_ , and we could take showers too.”

Iolaus smiled and reached out to brush a finger through the scruff on Luke’s cheek. “I’d like that,” he whispered. “I’d like that very much.”

Their eyes met for a long moment. 

“Kiss me,” Iolaus whispered. “Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.” 

Luke smiled and leaned over him, and Iolaus closed his eyes as their lips met. They slung their arms around each other and relaxed into the embrace and the kiss with a deep sigh of contentment.

The fire crackled, and a log broke and sent a shower of sparks up into the darkness.


End file.
